Al and the Legendary Hero
by Teddypro
Summary: Aran from the game has crash landed in the realm of the MapleStory anime. What does he find in this strange version of Maple? And how will the inhabitants of Maple Island react to seeing this Legendary Hero? Please R&R! A/N: Yes! There is an MS anime! UP FOR ADOPTION! Sorry!
1. Arrival on Maple Island

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or places read about in this fanfiction.**

**Chapter 1- Arrival on Maple Island**

* * *

It was a cool August morning on Rien Island. The sun was out and the air was surprisingly warmer than usual. Penguins went about their daily work of escavating the surrounding land to discover more artifacts from the time of the battle between the Legendary Heroes and the Black Mage. One such 'artifact' wandered from his home near the center of town and walked down the snowy road. He was Aran, the Legendary Hero and the Pride of all Warriors. He was five foot eleven with sky blue eyes and lightly tanned skin. His short hair was as white as the snow around him, with five spikes that looked like mountains going down the center of his head from front to back. His right ear had two silver rings on top and a gold orb just below it. He wore a green and gold short sleeve shirt that had dark gold design on the gold part and a collar that stuck up around his neck. On his right arm were two red bands and the left had a red wood plate across the top. He wore green gloves with flapped holes at the knuckles. He had black pants and a red sash around him that had tanned lines on the edges. Around that was a brown belt which connected to a belt buckle shaped like the Omega symbol. Four orange brush-like objects hung from the red and tan sash. He had brown pointed shoes and an iron band around his left ankle. Across his back was a cape. The edge closest to his feet was light blue with a white, wavy design seperating it from the red part above it. One the sides was a wool 'wall' spreading from point to neck.

Aran was a Legendary Hero and a just as legendary weapon: Maha, the Giant Polearm. Only he, Maple's strongest being, could wield Maha the way that he could. Maha was a masterpiece in his own right as well. It was a white shafted wonder. The head of the polearm was a dark brown with gold designs on the front head, which was nearly twice as big as Aran's own head. Farther towards the edge of the head's blade was a brightsteel piece and at the egde itself was more brightsteel but with red triangles from a spiked pattern near the sharp edge of the blade. The rear head was a lot smaller and only had the brightsteel edge with no other design. One interesting fact though was that there were two golden rings on that edge of the blade which had orange brush-like objects attached to them just like his sash. There was a gold winged design at the center of Maha's head which had two Red Jades one just above the other. The tip was as bright as the shaft with a bit of wool around the bottom.

Aran had Maha in his left hand with the upper half of the shaft resting on his shoulder as he walked down the road through the town of Rien. Off to one side, under a snowy tree, was a gigantic white wolf with blue designs on its snout and its paws ablaze with blue fire, sleeping. It was Ryu Ho, Aran's faithful companion. Aran smiled and called out his name causing the wolf to slowly open the eye closest to Aran. The mouth of the wolf twitched a bit upward before it went back to its nap. Aran smiled. Things had been really peaceful in Maple since the Black Mage's defeat by his hand. True the classes were now back to their individual disputes and the Black Wings were supposedly still causing trouble in Edelstein but all in all very peaceful considering what it had been.

He continued his walk when he came upon a sight he was happy to see. His wife, Lilin. The cyan hair girl who had found him imprisoned in ice so many years ago had captured his heart and it was obvious that the opposite was true as well. Their wedding had to had been the biggest celebration in all of Maple since he defeated the Black Mage nearly five years ago. What he found funny was that it was the first time he'd seen Dark Lord cry. The other job instructors never let him live that down which would always cause Aran to laugh. Lilin looked up at Aran, smiled, and went back to whatever she was doing, which was probably looking at some documents the pengiuns dug up in the snow or ice somewhere. How much these penguins had found over the years, no wait-what the penguins had found over the years had been both strange and spectacular. So much interesting stuff had been dug up that Aran wasn't really surprised about anything anymore. He always expect the flightless birds of Rien to find something strange. But even he wasn't prepared what would find him today.

It started at midday with a pengiun rushing up to him shouting, "Aran! Aran! You've got to come and see what we found! It's amazing! It's spectacular! It's unreal!"

"Easy! Easy!" Aran held out his hand to calm the pengiun down. "Relax and slow down! Okay, now tell me what's going on."

"You've got to come and see for yourself! It's too amazing to say it all here!"

Aran sighed but got up and followed the penguin to the northeastern tip of the cresent island. The penguins excavating there had discovered a two hundred year old camp and apparently it held the research of a scientist who had made an unbelievable discovery.

"This researcher," a wise old penguin stated. "Found that your last battle with the Black Mage along with the other four Legendary Heroes caused such a realise of magic that it created a new version of the Maple World! He apparently had been studying it for some time when he disappeared and the came was layed to decay."

Aran had been listening to this while reading this reseacher's journal. His details on this 'new' Maple World were staggering, but he still wondered whether or not they were truth or fiction. "This all seems too inreal to be truth."

"That's what we thought as well. That's why we didn't tell you about it right away. We actually discovered this camp a few days ago."

"I see," Aran rubbed his chin then looked back at the penguin. "So what finally convinced you to show this to me now?"

"We found this," and the penguin pointed to a large metalic arch nearby. It was covered in ice and snow and didn't seem to be a proper-whatever it was.

"And this is?"

"It, apparently, according this researchers notes, is a portal to this 'new' Maple World."

Aran's eyes widened. Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't that. "And you think that's where this researcher went off to?"

"Most likely."

Aran moved his free hand over his hair then got up, picked up Maha, whom was leaning against a nearby tree, and walked over to examine the supposed portal. He put his hand on one of the edges, then flicked it and broke off all the ice on the 'portal'. The penguins smiled. They were impressed with Aran's superior strength, no matter how many times they'd seen it first hand. One penguin approached the machine from behind," And we still don't know how to activate it. Darn."

With that the penguin hit the machine and bright blue swirling energy appeared in the arch and sucked both Aran and his polearm into it before disappearing. The penguins looked on in shock. One said," Oh god, Lilin's gonna flip when she hears this!"

The rest suddenly paled at the mention of Aran's wife.

* * *

Aran awoke after what seemed like hours inside a forest. He looked around but that was all he could see. It was basically a few large and mossy rocks, grass, some flowers, and very tall trees as far as the eye could see. The sound of a stream echoed at a distance. Aran had gotten used to taking in a boat load of information quickly. It actually kind of reminded him of Ellinia a bit, but he shrugged it off. He then remember what had taken place just before he appeared here. "_So apparently I'm in this new Maple World,_" Aran thought, "_Perfect_."

He looked around and spotted, in a clearing, a small orange mushroom holding a green box looking around. It smiled and said something as it went over and picked up a stone which it looked at with wonder. "Found another one!" it said.

Aran smiled, "Looks like monsters here aren't the same as those at home."

"What are you doing, Kino?" said a deep voice and Aran looked over to see a stone mask along with a red snail and a smaller snail with a green shell. "Stone! Ben! Akane!"

The three suddenly went over to the orange mushroom named Kino and tried to take the green box from him. Aran frowned at this, "I stand corrected."

"Let go!" Kino shouted. "That's important to me!"

"You have so many! One less won't kill you!"

Kino back away a bit, "No."

"Hand it over," Stone said as he marched towards the helpless mushroom.

"No," Kino then moved around Stone, but Stone's eyes never left poor Kino.

"Stop quarreling," the red snail said in a monotone voice. "Let's all play together happily."

The small snail on its began then jumped around saying, "That's right! That's right!"

"That's right," said Stone angrily. "So hand it over quickly, come on!"

"No, no, definately not!" Kino tried to walk off when a voice said, "If you really want them so much, I'll give you my stone."

Stone went wide-eyed and Aran looked up to see a boy in an orange and yellow shirt and green pants. He had brown hair and eyes. A sword was on his back and around his waste was a belt that connected to a line that connect to a large weight behind him. He had brown shoes on and dark green bands around his forearms. However, he didn't look normal. He had a orange tail that had a spiked ball at the end and pointed ear. However, Aran saw that the points in his ears were faked. Easily pointing out to him that he was a human in disguise. How the other's hadn't noticed it he'd never know. Kino then shouted happly, "Ah Al!"

Al then gave a thumbs up, "Yo!"

He jumped down from the ledge he was on, the weight falling on him and the resulting shockwave shocked the previously arguing group. They ran over to him, "What's the stone for, it looks more like a rock."

"It's for training, training! I've been running with this since I left home!"

"You're just always engaging in random forms of training, aren't you?"

"That is because I have to become stronger and stronger!" Al said as he lifted up both of his arms as if flexing his arm muscles. "You guys have to stop slacking. Put in everything you got into training!"

"Later then!" Al then ran off and was approaching where Aran was. He decided it was best to befriend at least one person from this world and swung his polearm Maha down in front of Al's path. Startling both him and the present onlookers. Maha lifted and Aran walked out into the clearing, furthur shocking them. "Hello."

They continued to stare. "Sorry," Aran said embarrased as he scratched the back of his head. "It was the only way I could easily get your attention with the speed you were running at."

Al got up an smiled, "It's okay, but who are you?"

"I am Aran. I knew to this isle. Came here through an accident of sorts. Mind showing me around?"

"Oh course! Follow me!" Al then ran off passed Aran, which caused him to smile and run off after him.

Stone began to approach Kino again but sighed and said, "I'm not interested. I'd rather go fishing."

With that he walked off.

* * *

As Al continued to run towards his weight and Aran easily keeping up he began to ask questions, "So where are we off to?"

"Seron Perion. I'm trying to prove to the Warrior Leader Gallus that I am strong enough to become his disciple."

"Are you now? Hmm, I just so happen to be a warrior myself though not the same type of warrior as your friend might be."

"Well then I'm sure you should challenge Gallus to a match. He'd enjoy testing your strength."

"No, he'd have a field day testing it!" Aran laughed at the thought but Al only looked up at him confused. Aran smiled. "You'll find out what I mean soon enough."

* * *

Aran and Al had finally reached the side of a desert cliff which over looked a cliffside city below them filled with green, blue, and yellow masked goblins large and small, numerous stone masks, and numerous wood masks. One darker stone mask that had face paint on him and red hair was next to a large muscle stone who was talking to the rest. The muscle stone Aran assumed was Gallus. Al stepped forward, "Gallus, I have come again!"

They all looked up to see Al; Aran was not yet visible.

"Brat!"

"Unthinkable Al!"

"Trying-his-best Al!"

"Hates-to-lose Al!"

Al ears twitched a bit and he began to charge down the stairs with the weight right behind him, but he loses his footing and comes crumbling down the stairway. Aran can only wince and think, "_Charming entrance, Al. I'm sure you really impressed them!_"

He could even easily hear Al saying," Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain."

Aran sighed and shook his head.

"I think I've said this before, I'm not interested in weak monster companions."

"_Monster my foot_," Aran thought.

Al had finally got untangled from his mess and got up saying, "I may have lost the last time, but now I've become a lot stronger than before. Didn't you say that once I got stronger you would take me on as a disciple?"

"Don't tell me you've managed to obtain a seed of the World Tree?"

"_World Tree_?"

Al looked on wide-eyed, "A seed of the World Tree?"

"The legends say, whomever manages to obtain a seed from the World Tree shall be granted a miracle."

Al turned away slightly and crossed his arms," Miracles cannot be depended upon. Only training, training!'

Al turned back to them in a fighting stance, "I've waited so long for this!"

"Fine then," Gallus said. "Uddi, Ogani, Gigan! Be his opponent."

"Okay then."

Al's first opponent was a pink boared wood mask whom he punched a couple of times which only led to hurting his own hand. Everyone sighed.

Al's second opponent was yellow masked goblin with a club. Al tried to hit him with his sword but to no affect as was dusted aside by the goblin's club. Everyone sighed.

Al's third opponent was the dark stone mask from earlier. He simply held Al's string which Al couldn't even budge from the monster's hand. He was then thrown aside and, well-Everyone sighed.

"The results are clear, brat," Gallus said.

"Damn it," Al said as he whipped his lip. Then his face shot up. "Wait, I know someone else who wants to challenge you!"

"Oh, and who could that be?"

Aran stepped out into the light and jumped off the cliff and landed next to Al which made a crater and bounced Al to his feet. Aran turned towards Gallus. "That would be me."

The others began mumbling something about 'human' and 'evil' which Aran just shrugged off. Gallus grunted, "And whom do you think you are?"

"My name's Aran. That is all you need to know at this point."

"You've got a sharp tongue. I'll give you that."

"I've heard you're pretty dang strong," Aran said calmly at Gallus. "Let's see you prove it. Show me your strength."

Gallus drew a Maple Sword and shouted, "With pleasure."

Gallus charged at Aran but he just sighed and calmly stated, "Same old. Same old."

Gallus swung his sword down, everyone thought Aran was a goner, but Aran simply held his hand up and stopped the attack midswing without any visual effort what so ever. Everyone was shocked. Aran then got Maha and drove the blade into the ground beside him and using his now-free hand struck Gallus in the chest, sending him flying to the otherside of the village. Gallus groaned as he weakly got up just in time to see Aran shatter his sword by smaking it across his forearm. Everyone was left with a blank stare looking at Aran. None knew what to say about this quick duel. Everyone knew that no warrior had ever beaten Gallus as far as they knew, yet this stranger walks right into Seron Perion and defeats him without any effort what so ever. Who was this man?

Aran didn't stick around. He turned, picked up Maha, and began to walk off, but didn't leave without saying, "Al isn't the only one around here who needs to get stronger."

Before Aran could exit the city Gallus ran up to him. "Wait! Aran! Stop!"

Aran looked back, his face showed little emotion but one emotion that was visible was boredom.

"Before you go I must know: How are you so powerful?"

"It's a very long story," Aran answered. "But to tell you the truth I hold one title back home that may please you."

"And what is that?"

"The Pride of All Warriors," the following reaction caused him to grin widely. Gallus grinned, "I see. That explains your strength. In that case I'd like to offer you a place here at Seron Perion."

Everyone was shocked but they were even more shocked by his answer, "No thanks. Don't take it the wrong way, but I'd prefer to hang around people of my own race you know? Al's just showing me around."

Aran then turned to the boy near him, "Speaking of which; shall we continue our tour?"

Al jumped up and shouted, "Right!" And ran out of the city with Aran in tow. Gallus smiled, "A man known as the 'Pride of All Warriors'. He shall make a great ally. And Al has a never-give-in attitude. He has the makings of a warrior."

* * *

Al and Aran had rested next to a bunch of large orange rocks on a riverbank. Al was slouching down next to one feeling a bit disappointed. Aran looked at him, "You want my honest opinion?"

"What's that?"

"You have a long way to go before you're ready to try that again."

Al sighed and looked at the water, "Looks like I'll have to train a lot more, if I ever hope to join those montrously strong Warriors."

Al then jumped up and said, "Come on! Let's go!"

"Where are we going exactly?"

"You'll see!"

* * *

They shortly arrived at a bowman's town in the middle of a green, hilly land. There was a single large tree in the center that had many mushroom houses on it.

"This is Seron Henesys," Al said upon approach. "Barrow is the leader here."

"I see, but why are we here?"

"I want to become Barrow's disciple!"

"But aren't you trying to become Gallus's disciple?"

"I'm trying for both!"

Aran sighed, "Trust me, it's not a good idea to choose multiple classes for you to be. It'll only turn out badly."

"Not for me! I can do it!" And Al ran off towards the city. Aran sighed and slowly followed.

* * *

When Aran finally saw Al again, he was in front of a target about to be shot at by a bunch of rabbits, a fairy, and a humaniod blue wolf that he assumed was Barrow. He said, "Everyone, aim..."

"Eh," Al said as his eyes widened. "You got to be joking."

Arrows flew and Al ducked and dodged the first three. They all hit the target behind him. The target shouted, "HIT!"

Al ran to the side but some new weights on his wrists forced him the other way putting him in the path of another target. The arrows barely missed him as the target shouted, "HIT!"

Arrows began coming one at a time with Al blocking them with his sword. Aran could hear him saying, "Definately...never give up."

An arrow got passed Al's guard and hit the bullseye on the target behind him, "HIT!"

Al continued to run down the causeway with arrows continously hitting targets he passed and the constant word 'HIT!' annoyed Aran a tad bit since he was tired of hearing it.

"_I'm so glad that Athena never had these targets_," he shuddered at the thought of a roar of the word 'HIT!' rising in the air. He then heard Barrow speak.

"That's it, just like that. No matter what kind of obstacles and difficulties you face, never give up that attitude. That's really worthy of praise, Al."

Aran smiled. He too liked Al's never-give-up attitude. It was a thing he wished he had scene more of, especially during the second battle with the Black Mage when the forces of good had very depleted moral. Towards sunset, Al slowly climbed a hill, his weights still attached. Aran was at the top, sitting down and resting. Al was tired and was mumbling, "My training is still sorely inadequite."

Al didn't see Aran and managed to take off his fake ears and tail saying, "I have to disguise myself as a stronger monster."

Aran rolled his eyes, "I doubt disguising yourself as a stronger monster will make much of a difference."

Al jumped up in shock, "AH! When did you-?"

Aran laughed, "Relax, I knew from the beginning that your appearence was faked."

"But, how did-?"

"Relax, I've seen disguises so much better than that. Don't worry about it, your secret's safe with me."

Al stomach growled loudly after that and Aran raised his eye. "When was the last time you ate?"

Al's eyes grew wide and he shouted, "I am so hungry!"

"Then go on, I won't stop you."

"But-but where will you stay?"

"I'm prefectly capable of fending for myself. No need to worry about me Al. Just go on!"

Al looked at Aran uncertainly, but noded and ran off.

Aran looked around and walked away, too. If it was true and humans were seen as enemies, he'd have to be on his guard tonight. He sighed and casually went looking for a place to spend the night.

* * *

It was early the next morning when Aran awoke and went on a walk to look for something to eat. He wasn't really tired, he had done this type of things numerous times over the last few decades. He was continously walking on not really caring who did or didn't see him. He was a Legendary Hero of Maple after all; what was there to worry for? As he walked he saw Al nearby in disguise with his weight behind him. He was about to walk over when Kino appeared out of no where, running away quickly from something.

"Al!"

"Kino," Al asked. "What's the matter."

That was when the dark stone mask from Seron Perion, Gigan, and many Warriors surrounded Al as Kino hide behind him.

"Move it!" Gigan shouted at Al. "Even if it is you who tries to stop us, we won't show you any mercy!"

"Then perhaps you should try me on for size," said Aran as he walked over. The Warriors began to look uneasy, remembering how easily Aran beat Gallus the day before. "Now, what's all this about?"

"That little whelp as a seed of the World Tree!" Gigan shouted at Aran. "We want it! NOW!"

"I won't let you bully the weak!" Al shouted back.

It was then that Gigan lost it and, despite Aran being there, he shouted, "Everyone! Attack!"

Al immediately got his large weight and threw it at Gigan knocking him down. Aran put Maha's blade towards the Warriors and shouted, "Al! RUN!"

Al immediately ran with Kino right behind him. Aran turned towards the charging Warriors and did a Rolling Spin which sent the all flying backwards, slightly injured. Aran didn't want to kill any of them so he didn't put much power into it. Some Warriors got up again, ready to fight, but most ran. Gigan got up and grunted. He was going to have to fight the Pride of All Warriors and he knew Aran wasn't going to go easy. Gigan prepared to attack just as Aran started spinning Maha over his head.

* * *

Al had been running through the forest for some time now. In he's left hand was Kino, whom he was holding by his cap.

"Oh, I see they're interested in your stone."

"Yeah."

"Okay then, let me help you out."

"What about Aran?"

"Trust me, he's fine by himself."

Al contiuned running and shouted, "This sort of battle has no meaning, let's escape, Kino!"

They soon made it into a very large and hilly meadow filled with grass and flowers. They ran and ran and ran, trying to stay ahead of the Warriors, if any had made it passed Aran that was. They stopped on a large hill and Al gasped a sigh of relief.

"After running this far, we should be safe for awhile," Al stated tired. He took off his sword and landed on his back. "Let me take a rest and relax a bit."

But Kino was unsure, "Al, what now?"

Al gave a quiet 'huh' and sat up onto his elbows.

"Kino, don't be afraid," he said as he got up a bit and sat down like he was doing a butterfly stretch. "Leave everything to me."

Kino had yet to be convinced, "Next time, we'll probably have to deal with even stronger Warriors! So we'll probably be in even more dangerous situations."

"Suits me just fine, it will help me in my training."

"This is not training-"

"My goal is to become like my father."

"Al's father?"

"I want to become strong like my father is."

Al picked up his sword and tossed the sheeth in front of him, "For the sake of protecting the peace of the world, Father fought valiantly against evil forces. Even now I am sure he is somewhere doing battle.

"No matter what difficulties I experience," he continued as he stood up. "even if I'm beaten I won't be fazed. No matter how many times I am beaten, I'll stand up again, and become a strong man like my father. And like my father, I'll obtain the power to fight against evil."

Gigan came marching up the hill with Warriors right behind him, "Oh, that's really interesting."

"I told you before, don't bully the weak."

"Wait!" Kino shouted. "Where's Aran?"

"We gave him the slip, so he's not here to protect you!"

Suddenly a voice said, "Surveillance efforts on the Warriors' actions have finally paid off."

Al turned and in a line were a few archers with their small archer leader, the fairy Harp, who said," Now, in the name of the great Barrow, hand over the World Tree's seed."

"Everyone keeps talk about some seed of the World Tree," Kino shouted desperately. "But I don't know anything about that!"

"So no matter what you're not willing to hand it over?" Harp asked impactiently.

"These stones mean a lot to Kino," Al tried to reason.

"Al!" Kino shouted happily.

"Is that so? Although Barrow has a good impression of you..." the archer's ready their arrows. "It's a pity..."

"This will defiantely benefit my training," Al smiled as he got he sword in a batting position.

"Stealing from us is unforgiveable, you damned archers," Gigan shouted raising his fist. "The World Tree's seed belong to Gallus!"

"No, only Barrow deserves to have those seeds! You Warriors, get lost!"

"How bothersome, I'll deal with you Archers first before getting the seed!"

"Hey," Al tried to say but was interupted by Harp, "You're obviously looking for trouble. Take this!"

"Maple Island is for us to unite!" A Warrior shouted.

"The happiness of Maple Island will be created by our hands," An Archer shouted back.

"Please, stop arguing," Al tried to say. "Everyone on Maple Island are comrades, aren't they!"

"What are you talking about?" Harp yelled angrily. "The Archer are the strongest, noblest, and most outstanding on this island! We are different from the cold-blooded Warriors!"

"Harp!" Al shouted in disbelief and tried reasoning again. "Both sides calm down, we can work something out!"

"Al, why do you sound like a human?" Gigan said angrily. Both sides looked at Al, who got very pale. Gigan then flexed his arms and shouted, "Only we the Warriors can boast to be the strongest of Maple Island! To compare us to cowards such as the Archers is an insult to us!"

"Gigan!" Al shouted in disbelief again.

"Attack!" Gigan shouted and the Warriors charged.

"Fire!" Harp shouted and they realised their arrows.

The arrows barely missed Al and Kino and hit the Warriors clubs and other weapons. Al then pointed his sword towards the others and shouted, "If you all really want to fight so much, then I'll be your opponent!"

The Archer's readied their bows and the Warriors charged. Al was caught up hold back a yellow goblin while Kino ran to the opposite side.

"Stop it," Al shouted. "Just stop it!"

Al deflected incoming arrows and tripped an incoming wood mask. Kino said sadly," Sorry Al, this is all because of me."

"What Kino percieves as precious to him," Al smiled while continuing to hold the goblin back. "I will treasure, too."

Al began to force the goblin off him, "That's all there is too it."

"Al," said Kino but gasped.

"Gigan," Al puffed as Gigan approached him. He pushed Al out of the way, taking a full load of incoming arrows. Al sumbled backwards landing on Kino. His chest flew out of his hand, it opened, and the stones fell.

"Those are..." Harp began.

"...the seeds of the World Tree!" Gigan finished.

"It is mine!"

"You can't, those are-" Al tried to speak but Harp and Gigan began picking up the stones.

"Miraculous powers!" Harp said examining the stone in her arms.

"Miraculous powers!" Gigan said examining the stone between his two fingers.

Gigan's eyes suddenly widened, "This is..."

"Not a seed of the World Tree," Harp said disappointed.

Al got up and examined on, too, "These are just ordinary stones!"

Everyone was dead silent until Kino finally broke it with a shout, "That's what I said, these aren't seeds of the World Tree at all...I said that!"

And Kino began to cry, while Gigan looked away embarrased.

* * *

It took a bit but they all finally got the stones back into the chest. Al commented, "You really gathered a lot, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm going to string these pretty stone togetheras a present for my Mother's birthday!"

"That's really great, your mother will be happy."

"Really?"

"Really!"

Al then thought to himself, "_Even then, are the World Tree's seeds really so precious that people would go so far to obtain them? But I will get strong without relying on such 'miraculous powers'! Once I get strong, I'll get everyone to live in peace and harmony."_

He then realized something, "Guys."

He looked around and saw the Warriors and Archers walking away. He shouted the same phrase two or three times with the same result: being ignored.

* * *

The next day, Al was running his usual route with his weight when he came upon Aran again. "HEY ARAN!"

Aran looked and smiled at Al. He walked over and knelt down to Al's level so that he could look to him eye to eye, "Met up with Kino earlier and he told me what you did for him. Very brave and noble of you. You may not be strong physically yet, but mentally, you have the makings of a true, honorable hero. I'm proud of you!"

"Really?"

"Really!" winked Aran, giving Al a thumbs up as he stood up. "Go on! Get on with your training!'

"Yeah! Training! Training!" shouted Al as he ran off with Aran smiling behind him.

* * *

**There it is! The first chapter! Before anyone says anything I'd like to say this...YES! There is a MapleStory anime. You can find the English dubbed on YouTube if you look it up. Aran is naturally extremely powerful in the Maple world, but I'm cutting back on what powers he uses and how powerful he makes it to make it a bit more fair. True, he's greatly holding back but I'm trying to make it act like A) Aran isn't trying to hurt the inhabitants of Maple Island; and B) he's saving his power and energy for when he really needs it. How you enjoy and please R&R!**

**~Teddypro**


	2. Al and Nina

**Disclaimer-I absolutely not own any of the any of the characters/places read about in this fanfiction.**

**Chapter 2-Al and Nina**

**

* * *

**Aran had gotten up early the next morning and began to explore the forest he was in some more. It was a pretty relaxing day thus far though Aran knew from experience that it would never last. He found a nice quiet spot and laid down on the grass with his hands behind his head, which was lying on a tree. He might as well got some rest before Al showed up to bring him on another training run.

"ARAN!"

Aran's eyes shot open then slightly narrowed as he sarcastically thought, "_So much for a nice rest._"

Aran got up and threw Maha onto his shoulder. He streched a bit before seeing Al. He soon noticed Al didn't have his weight today. "Hey Al. Something wrong?"

"Yeah," Al said sadly. "My grandma is suffering from Salamander's Fever."

"Ouch," Aran winced a bit.

"Yeah, I need to find a certain plant to get it but the only place I can get it is at the Magician's village of Seron Ellinia.

"I see. Mind if I tag along? You know? To make sure you keep out of trouble!"

"Sure, just don't get their village chief angry at you for being human!"

Aran rolled his eyes and began to run with Al down a nearby dirt path. They soon made it out of the semi-open forest into a nice, hilly grassland where they came across a crossroad. The dirt path had turned to stone, and the symbols of stars and the cresent moon laid golden on the floor. A pole with three signs stood there. One sign pointed one way and said 'Seron Henesys', the next one pointed to 'Seron Perion', and the last on pointed another saying 'Seron Ellinia'. Aran commented, "I guess we know which way to head."

The heard some like squeaking and they turned to see a tiny pig with a red ribbon around him running down the pathway. A fireball suddenly shot out of nowhere and nearly hit Al, who did the matrix to dodge it but almost lost his footing. The pig then rammed into Al so hard they both smacked into the sign pole and span around it three times. Aran smiled at the chaos. He knew the peace couldn't last. The pig began to sniff a bit and, surprisingly, it spoke, "That's strange."

A feminine voice was then heard, "Why are you always trying to escape? Do you really hate being my pet that much? I've been taking really good care of you so far."

The owner of the voice was a girl about Al's age. She was about his height, too. She had purple puffy hair, tanned skin, and emerald eyes. A whitish-pink bandana made of a long piece of cloth wrapped around her head with a strand of her purple hair hanging out from the center of it right to the front of her face. She had green earrings shaped like a ball. She wore a purple shirt with the collar and long sleeves pink. The shirt stopped right under the chest area and her stomach area was open. She had a large pink band around her waist and blue baggy pants under that. She had tan sandals on her feet. But her most unique features was the fact that she had pointed ears and a purple 'devil's' tail behind her.

"_She's a monster, too, huh?_" Aran thought, with his arms crossed.

"Your kind of 'care' is distorted! This is just being cruel! Set me free!" the pig squealed and the girl shouted, "Be quiet!"

But the pig squirmed out of her grasp, jumped on Al's head, and scurried away.

"Hold it!" the girl shouted as she jumped onto and off a sign post which spun and hit Al, who was just getting up, in the head.

"Ow," he said as he clutched his head. They both turned to see the pig running away with the girl right behind him; actually teleporting behind him.

"Well that was random," Aran said out of the blue but in his head thought, "_So she's a Magician? Interesting._"

"Yeah, no kidding," Al replied to Aran's statement. Turning towards where they had went he shouted, "Who do they think they are!"

Aran looked behind Al, his eyes grew a bit wider and he said, "Hey Al. Look at this."

Al turned and saw before him down the path a small but crammed forest with large glowing gold stars on the trees.

"Woah, so this is the Magician's village," Al said amazed. "It emits a really impressive aura."

"Seeing sites like this never cease to amaze me!" Aran smiled, remember all the amazing places he had been in his time: Ereve, Edelstein, Orbis, Aquarium, Ludibrium, Temple of Time, and numerous more places all around Maple. But at the thought of all this he started feeling homesick. He wanted to get back to his own version of the Maple world, and soon, but something was telling him there was still work to be done here. So here he would stay...for now. Al looked up at Aran.

"Hey you alright?"

"Yeah," Aran said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Just remembering some things from back home."

"You must really miss it."

"Yeah, but I have a job to do here. I must finish it before I return home."

"What job?"

"I wish I knew."

Al looked at Aran confused but said nothing more. He walked forward heading to the village with Aran in tow. The trees were incredibly tall, green, and vine-looking. Bushes were all around them and there was no pathway to speak of. It was like being in the middle of a forest you had only just discovered to exist, but to Aran, something wasn't right. It was way too quiet. All that could be heard was Al's voice saying, "Even though this drawing is from the Elder, does it really exist?"

The drawing was in black ink. It looked like a triple budding flower, but instead of petals, it looked like those circle people used to hypnotize people. It reminded Aran of the time someone had tried to do that and Lilin got mad at the guy. He still remembered her line, '_HOW DARE YOU TRY TO HYPNOTIZE MY HUSBAND!_', and the poor man ended up in the hospital in a full body cast for about two and a half months. He still got comments, especially from the job instructors he was friends with, how she could end up a Legendary Hero like Aran, which always got him to grin and got Lilin embarrased; which was comedical. Aran looked at him and said, "If it didn't exist why would an Elder tell you about it? I've learned to trust them, they give valuable advice."

Aran was speaking from experience, since he had had many hour or two hour long conversations with Grendel the Really Old on various topics. But it was sort of giving advice back and forth since Aran had more experience on certain subjects that Grendel did and vice versa. Suddenly, a tan puffbal with stick-like horns and orange feet appeared, floating, next to Al. It said, "What's that? Isn't that the Miminga herb?"

"Miminga herb?" said a Jr. Neckie as it slivered out of nowhere.

"Who has Miminga herb? said a Jr. Boogie as it floated in from nowhere.

A stump then appeared saying, "If you have some Miminga herbs, could you share some?"

A klock then ran over, "Even a small amount is fine."

Aran's eyes widened, "And you've been there for how long?"

"Ah no, I'm also looking for it, this Miminga herb," Al said to the others.

They all sighed in disappointment, but Al continued, "I really need this herb. My grandma has Salamander's Fever."

"That's a shame," the stump said. "That herb isn't anywhere around here."

"Salamander's Fever spreads so quickly," the Jr. Neckie said. "No one knows how to deal with it."

"Eh," Al said in a slight gasp. But before any more could be said, mutiple explosions are heard nearby and the creatures run and hide behind trees and bushes. A fireball suddenly flies out of nowhere and Al does the matrix to dodge it. It explodes nearby. Aran's eyes widen, "Deja vu."

Then the pig from earlier rolls out of nowhere and Al kneels by its side, "Are you okay?"

However, it's reply was a mumble, "Enough already, spare me."

The girl from earlier jumped over the bush the pig tumbled out of and said, "Helped me capture it, huh? Impressive!"

"Capture it?" Al said a bit angrily. "What are you talking about? It's so afraid that it's shivering!"

The girl just stared at him. Furthur back, Aran could hear the whispers of the frightened monsters, "That boy is actually standing up to Nina."

"Looks like he won't live very long."

Aran's eyes narrowed as he looked at the girl. If what they said was true, then Al would need his help soon. The girl turned slightly and crossed her arms, "So what? Do you have a problem with that?"

"Stop it already! What do you think you're doing anyway? Everyone else is scared because of you!"

"What's it got to do with you? It's my village anyway," she said and Aran looked at her with uncertainty and a bit of anger. "The Magician's village believe that power is everything. Since I'm the strongest Magician in the world, I'm Nina, the village chief."

Aran started to laugh a bit but tried to hold it in. They all looked at him as he suddenly burst out laughing. The hiding creatures grew horrified. Al grew shocked. Nina grew angry. Aran then said outloud between laughs, "Sorry, sorry please continue. Please."

Nina grew a bit infuriated but said nothing. Al then said, "So you're the village chief?"

"I already said that didn't I?" Nina smirked. "The village chief is best, therefore she is allowed to do whatever she wants. That is to say whatever I do is right."

Aran was about to say something but decided, for right now, that it would be best to let Al talk to this girl. Suddenly, the pig turned to Al and started sniffing, "I was right. You are huma-."

He never got to finish as Al put his fingers in the pig's nostrils. Nina looked at the boy curiously, "You're...human?"

Al looked on nervous as he said, "That's...That's not true. Look at these pairs of ears and this tail."

Al's fingers took their toll on the pig as his head turned bright red and struggled to get out, but Al continued, "No matter what happens, these are the features of a monster, right?"

The pig suddenly shot out of Al's grasp like a cannon and landed right in Nina's arms breathing heavily and deeply. Aran spoke up for Al, "That much rings true, besides, he only smells human because he's been around me too long."

All the monsters looked at Aran strangely and their eyes widened, "You're...You're human!"

Aran smiled and rolled his eyes, "About time you found out. I wasn't exactly disguising it you know."

One of the hiding monsters asked, "Al, why are you traveling with a human."

Al was about to answer when Aran spoke up, "I'm new to Maple Island. When I first arrived he lost a bet to me so he has to show me around the island."

Al was about to say something when he realized what Aran was doing and, to Aran's relief, shut his mouth. Nina studied them for a minute then shrugged it off. The pig smiled and said, "You're a good liar."

Aran immediately glared at the pig, "Calling me a liar?"

The pig continued grinning, "Yes."

Aran pulled out Maha which was hanging from his hand that was behind his head and swung it down into the earth in front of them, causing a slight rumble and severly cracking the ground around it. "Come on, porkchop, say that again."

The pig eyes grew wide and he mumbled, "No thank you." Aran smiled, "Good, now we have an understanding." And he picked up Maha and drove the other end into the ground so he could lean on the legendary weapon. Nina suddenly squeezed the pig and he began to struggle again. Al frowned, "Cut it out. You know about the villager's, right? Lots of them are suffering from Salamander's Fever. If you're village chief than you should do something about it."

"Even if you said that," Nina answered. "I don't have a way to deal with the problem. It should be done now, Reggie went to pick some Miminga herbs earlier and should be returning shortly."

The hiding monsters then came out into the open. "Is that true village, chief?"

"Village chief."

"Everyone should thank me properly, too."

Aran mumbled something along the lines of 'Selfish, Ignorant Brat' but only Al heard the words. But the Magician monsters did what Nina intructed, "Thank you so much, Nina!"

Al just sighed as the monsters guided Al and Aran to the Magician village, which was near the top of the unimaginably tall tree. Al was very surprised but what was even more surprising to him was that Aran didn't even look that interested. It was as if it was something he'd seen everyday. Which, awhile ago, wasn't a lie. Aran used to visit Grendel the Really Old a lot so he'd been to Ellinia a lot. Which also meant he spent a lot of his times very high up near the tree tops. Of course, Al didn't need to know that, that would be a big giveaway that he was hiding far more than Al thought he was and he didn't need the kid playing twenty questions with him, or, as he thought about it, two thousand questions. They entered this one building when there was a store counter and numerous shelves of materials and supplies behind the counter. Upon the counter was a very short monster, a Buffy monster that Aran had seen deep within Ludibrium's clock tower when he went to go fight the Papulatus Clock. The group of monsters as well as Al and Aran went over to the little guy to ask him if the Miminga herbs have been brought in yet. However, the reply wasn't what everyone wanted to here.

"I'm very, very sorry," the Buffy said. "The person who went to fetch the Miminga herbs still hasn't returned."

Everyone either gasped and groaned. Al was silent. Nina was at the doorway looking strangely at the scene. And Aran...well, Aran just rolled his eyes. He knew it was never that easy. However, to his somewhat disgust, he heard Nina say, "Why is that person so concerned about it?"

"Isn't there any other way?" Al asked hopefully.

"If you are in a hurry, why not look for it yourself?" said Nina, much to the surpise of the Buffy.

"N-Nina, that is..."

"You want the Miminga grass fast, right?" Nina said slyly.

"But that is..."

"Is that so?" Al grinned. "That's a really good idea."

Al ran out passed Nina towards the end of a wooden walkway, "Thank you!"

Al turned back to where he was running just in time to stop himself at the edge of a huge drop. He spun his arms around but ultimately feel forward, grabbing a vine right in front of him as he slide downward. Nina walked forward and pulled out a Maple Wand which she created a pink circular platform of magic which she and the pig sat on and flew down quickly to catch up with Al. Aran just looked down at the duo as he went off watching as the pig tried to tell Al something about the vine to which Al replied to keep quiet just as he got to the end of the vine and fell another good twenty to thirty feet down to the ground. To Aran's amusement, the pig then said, "-is not long enough."

Al groaned the word 'ow' as Nina floated down next to him. He got up and looked back at the village. "ARAN! AREN'T YOU COMING!"

Aran grinned, "_This ought to be interesting_."

Aran then looked down and shouted, "Alright! Be down in a sec."

He took a few paces back and Nina gasped, "He's not going to-?"

Aran ran forward and jumped off the walkway down a good seven hundred feet to the ground. All three people below gasped loudly as Aran came down. As he approached where Al had slid off his vine. Aran did a front flip and just barely managed to land on his feet. The impact of Aran and the ground was heard as a loud 'POW' as dust covered the area and a deep rumbling in the earth shockwaved from its epicenter at Aran's impact point. Al and Nina coughed and waved their hands to clear the dust, they looked up fearing the worst for Aran, but to their surpised, as the dust cleared, Aran was there, totally unharmed what-so-ever, kneeling in a crater of cracked earth. He stood up, swung Maha backwards a circle and placed it on his right shoulder. He smiled, "What you gawking at? Come on, we got a herb to find!"

And began to walk past them, smiling to himself as Al smiled and shouted and began running. Nina began floating right behind him, keeping up with Al's speed. Aran chuckled as he shook his head and made off after Al and Nina. They had been running through the forest for a short while when Al asked slightly annoyed, "What is it? Is this the way the village chief is supposed to act?"

Nina floated to right next to while still keeping up with him, "Don't tell me you think I'm bringing along my new pet just to play?"

"You have a twisted personality."

"And a twisted face to match," the pig commented but his reward was Nina grabbing his face and pulling it with her reply that this was his twisted face.

"It's fine if you want to follow me just don't get in the way."

"I won't get in your way."

They had reached a large river with a single twisted stump across it just as Nina had finished her sentence. With a quick burst of speed Aran jumped the entire twenty foot river and even went passed it a good six feet more. It was an immediate stop and Aran stood up the same way he did when he jumped from the Magician's village a minute or two ago. Or at least that was how long it seemed. Al didn't waste any time and jumped onto the long tree and cautiously but quickly made his way across.

Nina smirked, "Of course, I'm just saying that."

The pig then said something but Aran couldn't hear it.

Aran raised an eyebrow, "_Oh boy, I have a bad feeling about that grin on her face_."

Sure enough, Nina pulled out her wand and swung it forward. Magic shot from the wand and swirled around the tree Aran was using to cross the river and the tree turned into an incredibly large albino python. Al flipped and held on as the 'snake' suddenly jerked and moved its head around to face all, hissing very loudly. Aran frowned, "Yep, knew it."

The snake head launched forward and Al yelled in terror and the thing swallowed him. Aran winced, "Oh, that's gotta suck."

The snake vanished and Al shot forward, eyes wide. He was on the tree stretching across the river in the same position Aran had seen people ride horse. Yes, seen. Aran had a giant wolf mount. Why would he need a horse? Al looked around. "Wh-what's going on?"

Nina flew right beside him. She was laughing a bit to herself, "What are you so afraid of?"

"You were the one responible for that weren't you?"

"Honestly...When you were in danger, it was me who stepped in to rescue you."

"Geez, you big liar," the pig mumbled.

"Oh, is that so?" Al said as he stood up. "I'm sorry then, I missed judged your intentions. Thank you."

Aran frowned, "_That kid is too gullible for his own good."_

Nina looked away, "That was nothing, there could be even worse things later on.

She then got a smirk on her face and continued, "You'd better be grateful for my help then."

"Of course! Thank you in advance."

Aran sighed, "_Scratch that. He's WAY too gullible for his own good._"

"Eh, no problem," and with that both Al and Nina shook hands and continued on there way.

"Something's wrong here..." the pig mumbled before they went.

Soon, the were at a large cliff with multiple symbols on the cliffside; the same symbols that were on the road earlier. Al began climbing the cliffside. Aran and Nina looked at eachother. Nina just floated up and Aran froze the ground under him, creating a pillar of ice that rose more and more. She looked at him, "You can use magic?"

Aran chuckled, "No, but I have a great connection with the powers of ice. I could enchant my polearm to freeze me opponents in ice by will if I wanted."

Nina smiled a bit," Interesting."

She then turned her attention to Al, "Sorry but this thing can't hold the weight of three people."

"I'll just consider it training, it doesn't matter. Besides, you've already been helpful by telling me about this shortcut."

"You're responses are making me uncomfortable," Nina mumbled.

"Here I go!" the pig suddenly said as he jumped from Nina's arms and landed at a crack on the cliffside. With a sudden gust through his nose, he shot tens of thousands of tiny black evil eyes out of a crack on Al's side so that we was basically swimming upon it. He started to loose his grip. The pig jumped back into Nina's arms. "You're so mean."

"I'm just 'helping' his training."

"Is it just me or are those things smaller?" Aran pointed out.

"Are they supposed to be bigger?" Nina looked at him curiously. Aran shrugged, "Well, from where I come from there about this big." He held his hand flat right about stomach level on him and Nina and the pig looked at eachother wide eyed then looked back at Al who had suddenly started laughing, "They're getting into my clothes!"

Aran flinched, "Now that's just disturbing."

Nina winced too as she agreed but to both their surprise Al dived under the swarmed and climbed his way to the top, hanging on the cliff's edge. Nina floated to the top and her circle disappeared with Aran using his ice powers to shoot him on top. They all looked into the distance. It was a light grassland with trees on either side and dirt mixed with grass. Al then blurted out, "There's no Miminga herbs around here."

"Oh yeah," Nina said strangely sweetly as she turned around. "Not too long ago, everyone picked all the Miminga herbs here."

"WHAT?" Al shouted as he let go of the cliffside and fell all the way down again. Aran sighed and looked over the edge, "You'd think he'd know letting go of the cliff's edge would be a bad idea."

"Yeah, he's not too bright is he."

Al shot up the side of the cliff and went straight to Nina a bit angry, "Cut it out and tell me where already!"

"Oh yeah, there could be some in that place..."

"Could be some? Try there will be some and maybe I'll believe you," Aran said in a slightly annoyed, slightly angered tone.

"Where?" Al asked still a bit frustrated. Nina turned and jumped onto her purple 'mount' so to speak and flew off with the pig, Al, and Aran right behind her. Al shouted at her as he tried to catch up.

"Hey, Nina!"

She shortly jumped off her magic circle and looked down, "Look, here..."

Al got right beside her, "Is that the Miminga herb?"

Aran finally caught up too and looked down to a bunch of plants that looked like pea plants. "Eh?"

"These are really tasty," Nina replied as she began gathering them.

Al put his hands on his hips, "This isn't the Miminga herb."

"_That's obvious_," Aran commented in his head.

"I'm already a little hungry," was Nina's reply.

"Do want you want," Al began as he walked away. "Seriously you're..."

Al stopped dead as the smell of food filled the air. He turned to see both Nina, Aran, and the pig sitting around a small cooking pan over a fire, watching the bean-like food pop up like popcorn. Al screwered them on a stick and immediately dug in.

"Delicious," Al said with a full mouth. "This is really delicious. You're a really kind-hearted person."

Aran chuckled a bit at that. This kid has got a lot to learn. Nina sat up a bit, "Not really, the only reason I'm making this is because I'm hungry. If you don't want it, you don't have to eat."

Aran rolled his eyes a bit but let the two continue talking. He had to think a minute. Why did he have the feeling that there was something to be done here? He could feel the presence of evil on Maple, but it was no where near as great as the Black Mage. Surely there had to be another reason. He then overheard Nina saying something about how it was the humans responsibility for the destruction of this World Tree he kept hearing of. That had to be it! The World Tree was apparently gone and that was the reason for so much chaos in the world. If he was right and his Maple world and this one were connected then this had to be the reason for the feeling that he needed to stay, but he had to find out when all this happened.

"How long ago was that? I mean, when the World Tree was destroyed."

"Shouldn't someone as old as you know?" Nina frowned.

"News doesn't reach me fast as no one born outside my lands can enter it."

Nina and Al were unsure of what to make of that sentence but Nina decided to answer his question. "It happened ten years ago."

"I see."

Aran went back into his train of thought. Ten years ago? Aran suddenly went wide eyed. That was when the Black Mage was released from his prison! That was when the war between the Maplers and the Black Wings truly began! Around that time, the Black Mage had launched an attack as he was freed to Aran's location at Rien Island once he heard the he was still alive as well. Aran unleashed a great amount of energy to stop the attack and succeeded, but this also got Aran's attention. The first battle he had had with the Black Mage over four hundred years ago ended with a surge of power so great it imprisoned both he and the Black Mage in seperate prisons and created this Maple World. If this one and his were as closely connected as he thought then this new evil here must have been caused by the great surged caused by the Black Mage's amazingly destructive attack and Aran's incredibly buffed up Combo Barrier. He sighed and looked up and to his surprise saw Al turned around with his 'tail' in the fire.

"Hey," Nina said.

"Wh-what is it?"

"Your tail's on fire," Nina said, but when no physical reaction occured she continued. "Isn't that hot?"

Al pulled his tail and it was covered with flames. He suddenly looked up shocked and after a second jumped up quite a distance into the air.

"That's right! Hot, hot, hot! Hot!" He ended up landing in a pond nearby where he put out his 'tail'.

Aran looked at Nina's expression and read perfectly 'Something's not right here'.

Nina stood up, "You seemed so relaxed."

"That's not true!"

As the two continued arguing, Aran stood up and turned a bit and saw a green bandana whereing fox with goggles looking at him. The minute this monster saw Aran's eyes piercing his head it yelped and took covered. Aran gave a slight groan and turned to see Al running away with Nina and the pig right behind him. Aran chased after them to catch up. As they left, the fox monster stood up, "Something important? Don't tell me he's looking for the World Tree's seed."

Meanwhile, the search party for the Miminga herbs had stumpled into a bamboo forest of sorts. Al was hacking a path through the place. Aran was walking behind him looking around at the scenery while Nina and the pig floated above the two.

"Hey," Nina said to Al. "Why are you trying so hard?"

"Because a certain someone is suffering, that's why I'm trying my best to help them," Al answered as he continued making a path. "Aren't you the same? When a Magician of your village is suffering, don't you feel like helping them?"

"Definately not, I don't feel their pain."

"And yet you wonder why I laughed at finding out the fact that you were the village chief," Aran said not even looking up at her. "A _real _leader of their people would stick by their people and help them in any way possible. Watching your people suffer while you do nothing is nothing short of tyrany."

"Are you calling me a tyrant?"

"In a way, yes, I am."

Nina 'hmphed' at that but said nothing more to the _human_. Al turned to Nina with a frown on his face; there was little doubt that he fully agreed with Aran. Nina smirked, "There is still a lot of danger ahead. How about I reward you with some of the herb when I retrieve it?"

"That's not the point," Al answered. "Your idea of the village chief is very twisted."

"On that I will concur," Aran said, turning away from both Al and Nina.

"Oh it's very twisted," said the pig.

"That's enough,"Al said. "I'll find this Miminga herb myself. With Aran's help we should find it not time, right?"

"It can't be too far from here," Aran replied looking around. "Searching the general visinity shouldn't be too tough."

"Right, let's go!" Al shouted and continued hacking away at bamboo. Nina just grinned, "Why are you so angry?"

Before anyone could answer, Al suddenly tripped and fell. "Ow, ow, ow. What's that?"

He looked back and saw they same type of monster both he and Aran had seen inside the Magician's store only this one was Lazy Buffy, not a regular Buffy. Nina was a bit surprised, "Reggie?"

"Wait, isn't this the guy you sent to find the herbs?" Aran asked.

"Yes."

Al picked up the calapsed Reggie and said, "He's got a burning fever."

Aran's eyes narrowed, "Salamander's Fever."

"Yes," said Reggie weakly, "Now I've caught the Salamander's Fever, how am I going to bring back the Miminga herbs now?"

"Rest easy, little one," Aran said as he knelt at Al's side. "That is why we're here."

Nina and the pig floated down and approached the duo on foot.

"Oh, village chief," Reggie said as loud as he could in his state. "I'm sorry for making you worried about me."

"That's not the case..."

"I'm so glad!"

"Oh, is that so?"

"There should be some Miminga herbs just ahead."

Al turned, "Okay, here I go."

Al took of and Reggie shouted to his retreating form, "Thank you so much."

Nina just stared, "What an enthusiastic person."

Aran smiled and began to walk after Al, "Indeed."

Al meanwhile had continued to hack his way through the bamboo forest. Shortly after he took off, he reached on opening with a small cliff just ahead of him. He walked forward, "Miminga herb...Miminga herb."

He was looking at his paper trying to find a plant that match the drawing. As soon as he reached the end of the cliff he looked up, sure enough, right infront of him, an entire field was filled of small green plants each with three flowers shaped like red cinamon rolls. "Ah. Miminga herbs!"

Al approached the herbs, "It looks really interesting...Anyways, I'd better hurry."

He reached down to take a herb but the minute he attempted to grabbed it a pink and purple tentacle took it from him. Al looked up and saw a multi-tentacled, three-eyed, pink and purple octipus right infront of him. And it was big, twice as tall as he himself was. "What's that?"

"I've discovered the World Tree's seed!" shouted a voice an Al looked up to see a fox with a green bandana on his head, goggles, a red bow tie, turquoise pants, brown arm bands, black shoes, and three tails. "These seeds all belong to Lord Zakteman! Not even one stalk can be given to you!"

"Who are you?"

"A person with the desire to conqueor Maple Island, Zakteman, is also searching for the World Tree's seeds, which are said to possess miracle-like powers. I am a loyal servant of Lord Zakteman, my name is Alibate."

Alibate looked down to see Al collected some of the herbs. "Huh? Weren't you listening to what I said?"

"Sorry, but I need these desperately."

"I cannot let you do that!"

Suddenly, numerous more octipi floated over the hill and towards Al. Soon, dozen surrounded him. Al fell backwards and looked at awe at the scene.

Alibate continued his commmand, "All right everyone, quickly pick all of the World Tree's seeds in front of you."

They did as he commanded and pulled out numerous types of a weird looking sort of rack out of nowhere and began running the supposed 'World Tree's seeds'.

"These things have nothing to do with the World Tree!" shouted Al as he stood up attempting to punch an octopus but was ultimate deflected off its rubber-like hide. Al became unbalanced and started bouncing off all the octopi nearby like a pinball machine. Alibate grinned as he rubbed his hands together manically, "If that's the case, we might as well take them all."

the octopi continued collecting the herbs and Al was unsure of what to do until a voice came from behind, "Why are you playing around?"

The fox monster's grin faded as Al turned around and saw Nina, Aran, and the pig standing nearby. Reggie was also on his feet eating on of the herbs, he looked as good as new. "Nina?"

"After you pick the Miminga herbs you should leave."

"Whatever happens," said the pig to Reggie. "Just eat first. You'll feel better soon."

"These troublesome people have appeared," growled the fox.

"You're the one who is hindering us," said Nina as she collected some herbs. "Please do not disturb my pet."

"Don't touch the World Tree!"

"World Tree? This?"

"The World Tree?" Aran laughed as he looked over at the strange monster before him. "Wow, you really are an idiot."

An octopus tried to attack Nina but she jumped over the large creature and stabbed it but with the point of her tail, sending it into a whirlwind of running around in pain.

"Get rid of this person for me!" Alibate shouted desperately, pointing violently at Nina. Obeying his command, numerous Octopi suddenly charged Nina but Aran jumped in the way and way his polearm, sending them fly backward. Aran grinned, "Harming them while I'm around is folly. Leave now or face the power of Aran!"

"Interesting," Nina said. "But I can take care of myself. Fire Arrow!"

Suddenly, a large ball of flame appeared on her finger tip and she pointed it at the approaching Octopi, zapping them with a beam of fire, causing them to fall backward. "Fire Arrow!" she shouted and the process was repeated with three more Octopi, but in this process a Miminga herb caught on fire. Al shouted desperately as he was caught between three Octopi, "Nina, stop! You can't use fire magic!"

Nina was annoyed by this, "Don't order me around."

"Well do it!" Aran shouted at her as he used his polearm like a baseball bat and knocked an Octopus out of sight as if it were a home run. "Unless you want this whole field to burst into flames!"

Nina sighed, "Fine."

So instead, a blue and white orb appeared on her finger tips, "Ice beam!"

The beam shot at three Octopi and froze them completely in ice. Aran smiled, "So that the game we're playing now is it?"

Aran raised Maha to the sky, "Snow Charge!"

A large crystal-like piece of ice but faded into a blue shining, sparkling mist as it swirled around Aran's polearm, giving it sort of a blue aura. He grinned and looked at the approaching Octopi. He swung and as the Octopi went flying they froze just the same way as the did with Nina's cold beam.

Alibate gasped, "It can't be."

Al had just managed to get out of his tight predicament just as Nina's cold beam froze the two that were trapping him. Al then pushed them aside and let them slide away. Aran by that time had one of the Octopi up in the air and as it came down after his toss he smacked it like a baseball sending it over the horizon. He held up his hand like he was blocking the sun from hitting his eyes, "Ooh, I think that's a new record!"

The Octopi Al had pushed had then reached the one Alibate was on and began sliding the same direction.

"Wuhi...Wuhiba!" Alibate cried. "Woah, Aa-aliba! Aliba!"

The Octopi approached a cliff, "Aliba! Aliba! Aliba! Alibaah! Alibaaaah!"

They fell off the floating isle into the sea far below. Aran smiled at the somewhat comedical sight and turned to see Al collect the Miminga herbs in a bag with Nina and the pig on one side of him and Reggie on the other. Al sighed in relief, "I've finally got some Miminga herbs!"

"Yeah," Reggie shouted with joy. "Now the villagers can be saved. That's including myself. Thank you very much village chief!"

Aran rolled eyes eyes in a slightly annoyed, slightly amused way at hearing the last bit. Al then said his own thank you, "I have to thank you, too, thanks."

Nina was a bit surprised at this. She turned he head slightly and got a little pink, "I wasn't doing it to save you. But whatever. Make sure you thank me properly, the village chief."

Aran walked up to her, "Well, I still say your idea of leadership and of a village chief, but I must admit that I was wrong about your strength with magic. Normally, someone casting that many spells with little breather at your age would've exhausted them. To that I must say I'm impressed."

The all just looked up at the man in awe. Never had they seen someone so honest about their mistakes. Reggie then spoke up, "Yes, in any case I ought to return to the village as soon as possible!"

He then ran off and Al stood up. Al sighed, "I hope everyone gets better soon."

There was silence for a moment when Al said, "Alright then, my grandma is still waiting for me. See ya!"

He began to run off when Nina shouted to him, "Hey..."

Al stopped, "Huh?"

Nina took out her wand and tapped it beside her forming her pink platform. "Want a ride?

"No, that's okay. Besides, that thing can't handle three people, right?" Al then began running in place. "Besides, running is a form a training, too. See ya around!"

And he ran off, Aran smiled at the boy's enthusiasm and ran off behind him. Nina replied, "See ya."

"Is that a promise?" the pig asked.

"I guess so, probably."

"Interesting people those two."

"It's time for us to return, too," she said as she tapped her pink circle doubling its size.

* * *

Later on, Aran and Al had reached the human treetop village. It's the first time Aran had seen another human other than Al since he arrived in this Maple World. He had to admit, as much as he liked the other villages, this one was a lot better. Of course, he was human, he was supposed to say that. They soon entered a brown painted house with a small garden. Two women were there. One was younger with a blue spotted bandana with brown puff hair, a white undershirt, and a redish dress/apron type of cloth. He correctly assumed this lady to be Al's mother. The other was an older woman in a bed, with black hair, a green dress, and an orange cloth around her neck. This he assumed was Al's sick grandmother, and again this was a correct assumption. As Al delivered the Miminga herbs to his mother and grandmother, Aran leaned against the wall and looked around. It was a very nice place with a clock, some pictures, many potted plants, and a very well done wooden house. He was impressed with how clean it was. It sort of reminded of how clean Lilin wanted her house to be whenever Aran would arrive while he was still trying to regain his memories. She'd frantically gotten it picture perfect and got severly angry at anyone who messed up anything just before he arrived. However, this thought only made him miss his home and his wife more.

"Excuse me, young man," Aran looked up to see it was the grandmother speaking.

"Yes?"

"You must be the powerful fighter Al has told me about. Incredibly strong he says. I'd like to thank for keeping my grandson out of trouble."

Aran laughed a bit, "Quite honestly I'm not sure if I keep him out of it or attract it, but I appreciate the compliment."

Al's mother walked forward, "Hello, I'm Sora, Al's mother."

"It is a pleasure, young lady. I'm not sure if Al has told you this but I'm Aran."

"Indeed he has. He's also told me you don't have a place to stay while on this island. Would you like to stay with us?"

"Really?" Al said in a very excited voice. "Can he really?"

"Now, now, I don't want to hinder you-!"

"Nonsense, we have a big enough place and anyone who helps my son is a friend of mine!"

"Well, in that case, it'd be delighted!"

"Yeah!" Al shouted as he jumped up and punched air.

"Now I must ask, where did you find this Miminga herb?"

"Um, about that..."

"Don't tell me, Al."

"You went to the Magician's village, didn't you?"

Al backed away, "Of course not!"

"The only place that has these Miminga herbs is the Magician's village," his mother pointed out.

Al was silent, "Al..."

Al cringed and ran out of the room, "I'm sorry."

Both his grandmother and mother looked on, but even Aran was having some difficulty finding their exact emotions at that point. Sora suddenly smiled and giggled a bit, "I was originally going to keep this a secret, but he goes to the monster villages just to train."

"Perhaps for Al," his grandmother said. "This forest is just too small."

"Yeah."

Aran smiled, "Al's a good kid and he's pretty good at holding his own out there. I have no doubt he'll be fine."

"I'm sure of that," Sora smiled.

From outside they could all hear Al shouted, "Time to continue training!"

The three adults in the house smiled and went to the doorway waving him off yet again as he went down the many wooden walkways and houses of the treetop human village of Maple Island.

* * *

**Whew, that took way longer to write than I thought it would, but well, here's chapter/episode 2. How do you like? Please R&R and stay tuned to the next chapter: Friendship is a Good Thing! Until then I see see ya, adios, and austa la bye bye!-...wow that last one sucked 0_0**

**~Teddypro**


	3. Friendship is a Good Thing

**Disclaimer-I do not own any of the characters/place/skills/etc that are read about in this fanfiction.**

**Chapter 3-Friendship is a Good Thing**

* * *

It was not long after meeting Nina that Al again attempted to become Gallus's disciple. Aran tried to warn him that he wasn't ready but Al didn't listen, so Aran decided to go too to make sure Al didn't kill himself. When the reached Seron Perion, Al stepped out onto the same stone stairway as before. All the Warriors were below each in a sparring match with another Warrior except Gallus, who was supervising. "Gallus!"

Gallus looked up and saw Al, much to his annoiance. "Take me on as your disciple!"

"Then prove your worth to me," was Gallus's reply.

"Okay!" Al ran down the stairs and, to Aran's relief, didn't fall down them like last time. He immediately took off his weight and drew his sword charging at Gallus but being blocked by a yellow goblin. It swung but Al ducked and the attack completely missed. Attacks and blocks were exchanged for a little bit with Gallus encouraging, "Bring out your battle aura, focus your strength on the combat."

Al jumped up into the air and attempted a punch but was swatted away. He slowly got up, "Not yet...I haven't lost yet."

But just as he attempted to get up he fell back down. Gallus stepped forward, "I must say, you sure aren't one to admit defeat, but to solely rely on that, is that enough to become a real Warrior?"

"Well, yes and no," everyone turned to see Aran at the stair case. "Yes seeing as how it takes that sort of determination and courage to defeat tougher opponents but it helps a lot to have the skill to back it up."

"Yes, that is true," Gallus smiled and a blue goblin stepped forward. "Um, Gallus, sir."

"Yes, what is it?"

"Why do you trust this human? You said that all humans were evil."

The other Warriors started mumbling to themselves but Gallus held up his hand to silence them, "Aran has proven without a shadow of a doubt that he can defeat any one of us with ease, so he could easily dispatch all of us any time he wanted, however, he doesn't. This shows me he's trustworthy. And besides, why would the Pride of All Warriors defeat his own class."

The rest of the Warriors mumbled amongst themselves and nodded in agreement. Aran smiled, "I am not tyranical or evil. I have only harmed those who've brought it on themselves. I protect the weak and innocent from those who wish to harm them. I seek peace, never war. That is what it means to be a hero of your people."

Gallus nodded his agreement, smiling at the Legendary Hero. Al then inquired, "Huh, what do you mean by that Gallus, Aran?"

Gallus turned towards the young human-in-disguise, "Take the time to think about that yourself."

He then turned to the rest of the Warriors, "Continue your training."

"Okay, Gallus!" the Warriors called and they began to clash again. Al just looked down and thought to himself and began to walk away. Aran was about to follow when Gallus called, "Wait!"

Aran turned towards the Warrior Chieftan with slight interest as to the call. "Why don't you demonsrate to us, Pride of All Warriors!"

Aran grinned, and the other Warriors stood back to watch as Aran began to spin his massive polearm around with no difficult what so ever.

* * *

On the outskirts of Perion, Al was training on a long board on rocks that were over a river. Al had no sword in hand but was practicing manevours, "Like this? Or...is it like this? Close range strike...Block..."

Behind him, Stone, Kino, and the two snails were calling to him but he paid no attention to them. He was too caught up in what he was already doing. "Okay! With this, I'll find Barrow and take my revenge. Soon, I'll let him see my power and defeat him in one blow!" **(A/N: Talk about overconfidence.)**

* * *

Al arrived at Seron Henesys ready to challenge Barrow for the right to be his apprentice. When he arrived on the wooden platform overlooking the courtyard of Seron Henesys, every archer was gathered around Barrow, who sat under the shade of the large tree at the center and played a soft and relaxing tune on a small wooden guitar. Al paid no heed to this and shouted, "Barrow, I have come to challenge you!"

But he was immediately silenced when the entire group of archers shushed him. The only one that didn't silence Al was Barrow, who was still playing his instrument.

"Huh?" Al questioned as he looked down at the scene before him and listen to Barrow's tune. As he finished, every archer began clapping.

"That was beautiful Barrow!"

"Barrow! Barrow!"

Al smiled widely and he, too, joined in the clapping. Harp the fairy floated to Barrow, who had just gotten up, "That was really beautiful, Barrow."

"When compared to other villages," Barrow mearly said. "Those Warrior and Magician villages are filled with unnecessary noise."

"Archery," he continues. "Displays an instantaneous burst of speed matched with extreme precision. That is the ultimate skill of the Archer's village. Therefore, basic foundations are very important."

"Barrow!" came a cry and Barrow turned to see Al with a bow and arrow in his hand. "Accept me as your disciple. Fight me in a duel!"

"What are you talking about!" Harp shouted at him. "You'd have no chance in that kind of duel! Honestly...asking the Archer's great leader, Barrow, to a challenge."

But Barrow mearly raised his hand to silence her, "It is alright, Harp. Let me show Al the harsh realities of the real world."

Al drew the bow in his hand, "Let's go, Barrow!"

An arrow shot right passed Al, "Woah, damn."

Al drew again but an arrow struck his forehead **(Believe it or not the arrows look more like sticky arrows. No joke.)**.

"How's that Al?" Barrow taunted. "I'm still waiting to see your true power."

"Damn, watch this!" Al said as he drew his bow yet again. He finally fired the arrow but at only half the speed of Barrow's arrow. Barrow mearly bent backwards a bit to aviod it. "Be more serious!"

"Alright, as you wish," came Barrow's answer as he drew his bow again. Suddenly, arrows started flying at Al every second that passed. Each time Barrow shot an arrow he was making a new pose. Al was desperately trying to avoid him.

"How can he be so accurate with his arrows?" Al said dodging a few more arrows by the skin of his teeth. And Barrow's answer came as an echo from an earlier statement he had made, "Thse arrows are fired with instantaneous burts of speed matched by extreme percision."

Al finally had a chance to draw his bow again, "Now it's my turn!"

But that only brought a grin to Barrow's face. He fired three arrows in succession, each one hitting Al on the forehead, each sticking there **(Refer to note above)**. A fourth came and hit Al in the forehead again; this time knocking him off balance. And finally a fifth struck Al in the same area as the other four and caused Al to do a backflip and land on his stomach. Al slowly rose, "No. I haven't lost yet."

And with that, Al fell to the floor.

"I have to admit," Barrow commented. "That never-say-die spirit is worthy of praise. But, if you want to become stronger, it is important to know when to admit defeat, Al."

"Admitting defeat?" Al mumbled as he slowly tried to get up. "Why is that important?"

But Barrow gave no heed to this. He mearly turned to a group of archers that had assembled before him, "Today, I'll give everyone a detailed explaination for the Archer's method of shooting from a distance."

"Yes!" they all chorused.

"Barrow," Al said as he stood up. "I'll never give up just because of one defeat."

And with that he ran off, with Barrow giving him a dispproving face at his back.

* * *

Al was soon wondering alone in the vast meadow of hills and flowers that he had protected Kino in not too long ago.

"Gallus said that having a never-say-die attitude is not enough," he mumbled to himself. "But Barrow said that admitting defeat is important as well. I don't get it!"

"What's not to get?" said a voice and Al looked up to see Aran.

"Aran?"

"The one and only!"

"What does it mean? That it is not enough to just have a never-say-die attitude but you must also know when to admit defeat?"

"Well it's like this," Aran stated sitting down besides him. "You can't souly rely on a never-giving-up because that'll get you killed. That's also why it is important to know when it's time to give up as well."

"But you never give up, Aran!"

"That's because I never have a choice," Aran frowned at him. "It's do or die in most of my cases and I'd much prefer to live."

"Alright!" Al said getting up. "I'll train for the sake of training. And the magical forest will be my target. Towards the direction of Scary Mountain."

He looked to his righ and a large mountain with many trees that formed the shape of a terrible face arose out of the land. Aran mearly looked at Al, "You sure that is a good idea?"

But he never got his answer as a sudden squeal came from behind them, "Out of the way! Out of the way!"

"Huh?" both humans turned to see Nina's pig, Puudou, running towards them at a fast pace. Aran frowned, "_Oh boy, here we go again._"

"Get out of the way!" came the pig's voice as he ran right into Al who caused him to fall right onto his back. Aran groaned because he knew what was coming next.

"Why are you always getting in my way?" the Puudou yelled in Al's face.

"You're the one who bumped into me," Al retorted as he sat up. Suddenly, Nina floated behind him.

"Okay, thanks for your help," she said as she picked Puudou up. He squealed, "Let me go, you...twisted person!"

Without another word, Al got up and marched away, "See ya!"

Aran sighed and followed. Nina did as well, "Are you in a hurry?"

"I am going to Scary Mountain."

"The Scary Mountain?" Nina and the pig's voice came in a surprised tone. Aran looked at Nina, "He didn't even give me a chance to talk him out of it either."

"That doesn't surprise me."

"There area a lot of monsters living there," Al said as he confidently strode on. "An irresitable urge to fight has ignited within me!"

"Poetic," Aran muttered as he rolled his eyes. "You know people probably stay away from this place for a reason."

Puudou spoke up, "There are probably monsters stronger than Gallus and Barrow there!"

"My point exactly," Aran stated.

"There's nothing to worry about," Al smiled. "Besides Aran's here!"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Nina raised an eyebrow at the two.

"Well, Aran did beat Gallus with no effort on his part. He won with a single blow in fact!"

"You did?"

"There was nothing to it," Aran said as he shrugged it off. "But that still doesn't mean you should rely on me all the time Al. I won't always be there to pull you out of your messes."

"I am training for the sake of training," Al mearly said.

"Training for the sake of training?" the pig asked as a line of about eight drummer bunnies marched behind Al and then walked off. "There's something wrong with your brain."

"Look," Al said as the bunnies marched passed him. "The rabbits are training for the sake of perfecting their rhythme."

Al stepped forward and continued speaking, "That's why the amount of combat experience is important."

Aran looked like he was about to say something but declined to saying, "I can't really argue with that but I feel like I should."

Nina then grew a devilish grin on her face which Aran didn't like at all. "Heh, getting pumped up is admirable, but you just stepped in one of those rabbit's droppings."

Al looked at the bottom of his shoe and gasped while Aran tried to hold back his laughter. Suddenly the lead bunny walked up to Al and said that he was sorry as he picked up his own droppings and walked off.

"What an idiot," the pig laughed but was silenced by a sudden glared from Aran. But all three just looked on as Al ran off ahead. "See ya!"

* * *

Al ran through the thick brush as Aran ran beside him and Nina sitting on Al's weight. Al looked excited as he said, "This is getting me pumped up!"

Aran sighed and thought, "_This could also get him killed._"

Nina simply yawned loud and Al sighed, "Don't alert the monsters to our presence. We're already at the Scary Mountain. The feeling I'm getting, it's as though I should always be on my guard. I'm completely prepared!"

Suddenly, Nina let out a loud yell that scared Al half to death and caused him to turn around and tackle Nina to the ground. The next thing she knew she was laying on her back with Al right on top of her, his head next to her's and his arms around her. Aran was having a very difficult time trying not to laugh and the words 'that's cute' escaped his lips. His only reply was a glare from Nina.

Nina then looked back towards Al and said, "Is this what you mean by being completely prepared?"

Al put his hands on the ground and sat up just far enough so that his face was mear inches from her's, "Huh? Yeah, I'm completely prepared..."

Puudou took a sniff of the air and stated, "You really do have the scent of human."

Al jumped back to that we was sitting on his wait, "It's just a coincidence!"

Aran just looked at him, "And didn't we already agree that he isn't?"

The pig didn't seem at all fazed, "Just admit it already."

Al looked way and frowned, "There's nothing suspicious going on. But can I ask you a question?"

Nina got up, "What is it?"

"Why aren't the five races staying on Maple Island getting along with one another?"

Nina's eyes narrowed, "That's a result of the destruction of the World Tree, isn't that obvious?"

"_Again with this World Tree_..." Aran thought.

"The World Tree had always been maintaining world peace and order," she continued. "After its destruction, the world sunk into inevitable chaos. That's the only reason why?"

"Then, if the World Tree was revived," Al said standing up. "Then everyone would be able to live together in harmony, just like before?"

"That's just what a human would say. You're obviously a..."

"Don't make random accusations!"

"Alright! That's enough!" Aran shouted gaining the attention of the arguing duo. "We don't need an argument in a place known to have powerful monsters. And as far as I'm concerned, this whole thing about the World Tree maintaining peace and order is a bunch of bull."

Nina gasped, "How could you say that?"

"Because," Aran said half-glaring at her. "No one object forces something like that. People can choose whether or not they want to get along with one another."

Nina didn't know how to react to that. Al attempted to calm down the group by saying, "Alright, back to more training!"

He then marched off, with an annoyed Aran and angry Nina slowly walking behind him.

* * *

Within the hour, they reached an oddly-shaped waterfall that had three drops that were shaped like stacked rectangles but the final one had a sharp-curving drop like someone had taken out a piece of the cliff and replaced it with a curvy piece. They were standing on a large circular hill in the middle of the water at the base of the falls. It rose slightly like part of a ball out of the water. The 'platform' was white with dark green spots. On one side of the isle there was a deep rounded hole under the water that went down into an abyss. On the other side of them, just down stream, was a much much taller waterfall. Surrounding them one either side were tree followed by very high plateaus. Three, gargantuan, brown and gold striped, egg-shaped things were scattered throughout the area. On the small area they were on was a wood table with a flower umbrella which remind Aran of the cafe tables in New Leaf City.

Al was out away from this table, which Nina and Puudou were city at watching him. He was training with his sword, his weight no longer attached. Aran was out away from them near the water as well as facing it. He was sitting indian-style with Maha laid across his lap. He was quietly meditating, but he couldn't help pick up the words the other two were saying to each other.

"I have to get stronger," Al said as he practiced his sword swings. "I have to show them my capabilities."

He charged at nothing and Nina called out, "Do your best!"

He began to swing into the waterfall, giving out a yell each time. He suddenly got caught in the current going across the 'rock' he was on and began to slide down into the water where the bottom seemed to be beyond all sight and knowledge. He jumped up and just managed to regain his footing on dry ground. Nina suddenly called to him, "Al."

He turned around, confused.

"Above you, above."

"Huh?" he turned around and looked up just in time to see a log get thrown off the waterfall and towards his general direction. Al took a swing at it but as soon as his sword hit the log flash red and revert back into a tiny green leaf. The momentum of the swing threw Al off his feet. Al was startled while Nina was laughing.

"It's just a leaf."

"Don't joke around, this is a real sword after all."

"A real sword? Come on, the only real weapon around here is my wand and Aran's polearm!"

"Hey!"

"Why are you getting so angry? Where the leaf just now was magic, or a real attack, it was still considered a type of practice, right?"

"Oh, I see," Aran secretly had a sweetdrop running down the back of his head. "_Forget the other names the Warriors called him. Try gullible Al...very gullible Al._"

"Honestly after doing all this I'm helping you train, right? You should thank me properly."

"Of course, here it comes again," suddenly, over half a dozen more logs came over the falls. "Thanks for lending me a helping hand, Nina!"

"That's got nothing to do with me," at that comment, both Al and Aran's eyes shot open. Aran turned around only to see Al deflecting log that were smaller than he thought they originally were. Aran sighed in relief.

"I will treat this like Barrow's barrage of swift yet accurate arrows!"

Aran smiled, "_Al, you are no where close to seeing a swift and accurate barrage yet._"

From the side, Aran heard Nina comment a bit about how that was pretty impressive. That was when he first noticed a fruit drink in a pineapple on the table, but he did immediately noticed Puudou pushing it off the table and it then tumbling down towards Al.

"_Oh no_."

Al stepped on the pineapple and slipped; in the process he struck one of the 'logs' back passed the Puudou, knocking him off balance and tumbling down the hill and into the water.

"_Ha, serves you right_."

Al however suddenly ran over, threw his sword to the side, and jumped into the water after him, "Puudou!"

Aran and Nina mearly looked on, surprised at what had just occured. Soon, Al and Puudou reached the shallow part of the river. Al stood up and picked up Puudou as well.

"Are you stupid?" Nina shouted. "You obviously can't swim very well, yet you jumped into the water without hesitation. What if you got into trouble, what would you do then?"

"That's true...But, lending a hand to those in times of danger come naturally to me."

Aran smiled, "It's a great trait to have Al. It was very honorable and noble of you."

But Nina didn't agree, "Don't just casually lend a helping hand. Besides Puudou isn't exactly your friend."

"He isn't exactly Al's enemy either," Aran pointed out. Al added to that saying, "Whenever I meet someone new, I treat them as my friend. It's the same with you, Nina."

Nina was taken back by the statement, "Me too?"

But she instantly crossed her arms and looked away, "You have such a naive personality."

"And you have a demented and twisted one," Aran muttered.

"Huh?" Al asked innocently. Nina turned around at sat facing the waterfall and Al, Aran, and Puudou sat behind her facing her direction. "Hey, what do you mean by a naive personality?"

"I dislike the notion or having friends, or friendship itself."

"That explains a lot," Aran muttered.

"Oh, why's that?" Al asked.

"Why you ask? It's precisely that type of naive personality that makes me feel uneasy."

"Why's that? You should be glad that you have friends you can talk to, right?"

"Are all humans like that?"

"To say humans are all like that is not wrong, but..."

The sudden look from Aran and Puudou freaked Al out. "Woah! I don't know anything about human behavior."

"_This guy really is human_..." Nina thought. "_Alright, I'm going to play a little prank on him._"

"I don't need friends."

"Huh?"

"I only believe in my own strength."

"Your own strength."

"Ever since I was born, I've been alone by myself. For the sake of survival I do whatever it takes."

"I repeat," Aran commented. "It explains a lot."

"Back then, I was friends with people who had the same sort of idea. With that, the Nina society was born..." Aran could be heard chuckling at the last statement, but he was...impatienctly ignored.

"But suddenly, a larger group appeared. All my friends betrayed me and joined that group. From then on I made up my mind to never make friends again."

"Well," Aran stated. "That was a childish and selfish decision."

The other three people of the group looked at Aran. He continued, "Do you think I gave up on having friends when my four closest were murdered?"

The words shocked the group. They hadn't expected this.

"Wha..what happened?" Al asked.

Aran chuckled and began, "I once had four friends; we were a powerful team, unable to be defeated. Believe it or not: one was a warrior, one was a thief, one was an archer, and one was a magician."

They gasped at the words; the four classes getting along? Unheard of since the fall of the World Tree.

"And yes, they were human."

Well that explained it.

"We could fight anyone and anything in our path. We were unstoppable...until at last we fought our ultimate foe. He managed to kill my four friends and I only just survived. The only way I managed to win was through the being's imprisonment."

"Who was it?" Nina asked. "Who killed them?"

The stone cold glare they recieved sent a chill down their spines, "A corrupt magician."

The answer itself sent a chill down their bodies as well as their spines. Aran frowned at Nina, "Yet you give up your friends after they mearly join a different group? That sickens me."

Nina saddened, "Sorry, I just thought..."

Al interrupted saying, "But now I see, that's why..."

"I don't see how you feel sympathy," Nina stated towards Al. "Especially after what Aran just said. I never planned to trust anyone even from the start."

However, listening in on the conversation was an old fool; the five-tailed fox with goggles who had attacked Al, Nina, and Aran while grabbing the herbs not too long ago.

"Oh, Nina's society, huh? Just when I was worried about finding a valid excuse to make an appearance," Alibate snickered to himself as he prepared his scheme.

"But," Al continued. "Don't you get lonely if your always on your own?"

"I've already forgotten those kinds of emotions," Aran frowned at this. "However, whenever I see other people having fun with their friends... I don't understand, and sometimes I start to cry."

"Wow," Aran said coldly. He wasn't buying it. "So the mighty Nina does have a heart."

"Nina..." Al asked worriedly.

"Forget it..." Even Aran could see tears building up in her eyes, but even so, he knew something wasn't right.

"I understand," Al said earning a surprised 'eh' from Nina as a reward. "I completely sympathize with what you've been through."

"Eh?"

Nina turned around. Al was a crying wreck while Aran looked like, even with the show, he wasn't convinced.

"_Well, at least he believed that_," Nina said turning back around and smirking. "_I expected Aran not to; he's no where near as gullible as Al_."

Puudou sighed, "_She has such a twisted personality_."

Al got onto his hands and knees and inched a little closer to Nina, "Nina, so would you like to become friends with me?"

"Huh? Uh..." even Nina seemed surprised by the question. "_I feel like something's not right._"

Puudou suddenly appeared in front of Nina, "Nina's my friend, right?"

"Yeah, right."

A sudden voice caught their attention, "Excuse me, please help! My friends are being attached by monsters!"

The owner of the voice looked like a humanoid walrus with purple goggles that looked awfully familiar to Aran. And so did the walrus's green bandana. Al stood up, "Monsters?"

"Yes. Ah, aren't you Nina?"

"How do you know that?"

"My friend was once a former member of Nina's society."

The looks that followed differed. Al looked surprised and worried. Nina and Puudou looked just plain surprised. And Aran looked just plain suspicious.

"I'm begging you, please help him!"

"Let's go, Nina," Al said to a dazed Nina. "Where are they?"

"Oh yes, it's right over here."

The 'walrus' started to waddle off with Al right behind him, "Quickly, Nina, Aran."

"I'm not coming," Nina said.

"What are you saying? It's your friends who are in danger!"

"Feel free to go by yourself."

"Fine, let's hurry! Come on, Aran, let's go!"

Aran sighed, "Very well. Gotta keep you from getting yourself killed."

"Come on, let's hurry!"

"Okay," the 'walrus' said but not without taking one last look at Nina. After they left, Puudou turned to Nina and asked, "What's the matter?"

Nina rolled over on her stomach, "Who _is_ that guy? Let's follow them and find out."

* * *

It wasn't long before they traveled up onto the top of some very high ruins. Al looked around confused, "The place where your friends are being attacked, where is it?"

The 'walrus' began to laughed, "Hehehehe, there weren't any monsters to begin with."

Al and Aran whirled around; Al confused, Aran ready for a fight. Out of the walrus costume came Alibate, the five-tailed fox, "Ta da!"

"Who are you?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Aran glanced to Al. "He attacked us while we got the herbs for your grandmother."

"I am the one who has been tracking the three of you for some time," Alibate began. "The one searching for the seeds of the World Tree on behalf of my master, Ariba. But obviously you don't care about that."

"_Again and again with the World Tree's seeds..._" Aran thought.

"Then, being attacked by monsters, and friends with an ex-member of Nina's society are..."

"Everything up to now is all a lie!"

"A lie?"

"Yes, yes."

"Ah, that's a relief then."

"Yes, yes!...eh?" both Aran and Alibate gave all a strange look. Well, Aran's looked strange. Alibate's face looked more like he had just witnessed Al growning a second head.

"It seems that Nina's friends aren't that weak after all."

SMACK!

Aran's hand found it way straight into Aran's forehead. He mumbled, "Oh my God."

Al walked straight passed Alibate. Alibate went berserk, "Hey, hold it right there!"

Alibate darted in front of Al, "I still have something important to say. Tell me now, where are the World Tree's seeds!"

"I've said before, I don't know what you're talking about!"

"I have already spent so much time and effort. I will get an answer from you. Come forth, Octopus!"

Alibate darted away as Al and Aran became quickly surrounded by the octopi from the last encounter. Al and Aran readied their stance and Al stated to obvious, "It's you guys, again..."

Al jumped over two as they attempted to crush him between them. Aran swung him polearm, knocking those same two far away. Al jumped off a piece of the ruins an struck at two more, knocking them away.

"Perfect," Al said as Nina suddenly floated overhead. "This is going to help with my training."

She floated down next to him, "You really think your lucky?"

"Oh, Nina."

"In the first place, I never had a 'Nina's society'."

"HA!" Aran shouted as he, without looked, bashed an octopus away. "I knew it!"

"Anyway, gullible people like you have to be fooled a few times to learn their lesson."

Al suddenly became surrounded as he was slowly overcome, "Nina!"

Nina flew off shouted, "Bye, bye..."

"Nina!"

Alibate laughed, "Looks like she abandoned you. Take care of him!"

Al was suddenly charged by numerous octopi. Aran was furious, "Al!"

Aran's polearm suddenly began to glow an orange light, much to the surprise of Ariba and Al.

"**COMBO SMASH!**" Aran spun and swung his polearm at air, but a large orange-gold spiritual polearm flew out of Maha and annihilated any octopi caught in the blast. Al and Alibate were shocked by this knew ability they had seen. Most of the octopi were gone now. Aran turned to the fox and said to him venomously, "Call off your lackies, Ariba. Now."

What they didn't notice were that the remain octopi forcing Al closer and closer to the edge of the ruins...and a cliff. The edge of Maple Island. Al lost his footing and fell, "Aaahhh..."

Aran turned around shocked, "AL!"

Alibate rushed over to the cliff, "Damn it...Looks like I lost the information leading to the World Trees seeds. If that's the case I have no choice but to find the Magi-"

Alibate paused and looked on very afraid as a blue and orange aura surrounded Aran. His eyes seemed to be ablaze with anger and rage. Alibate was terrified, "RETREAT!"

The entire group scattered as Aran began to spin his polearm over his head.

* * *

"Aahhh..." Al yelled as he fell...and fell...and fell. Suddenly a vine appeared near him, he spun around and grabbed it, almost instantly stopped. He nearly hypervenilated from the quick breathing he was going through. He quickly climb back up but not before noticing a log wrapped around the bottom of the vine.

* * *

Nina and Puudou floated down the place they were at before Ariba showed up in his walrus costume. Puudou was asking Nina a serious question, "Are we really going to leave Al behind like that?"

"Doesn't bother me."

"Everything's got boring now."

Nina glared at Puudou, "Stop whining. Don't you ever get tired of it?"

"Huh?"

Suddenly, numerous octopi jumped from the top of the waterfall down at Nina and her pet. They managed to dodge a few before Puudou slide off.

"Puu-!"

"Nina!"

Alibate appeared and ran forward to catch Puudou.

"Puudou..." but then she realized something. "Al. What did you do to Al?"

Ariba pointed in front of him and moved it down just as he started whistling from a high note down to a low note. Nina's face dropped and Alibate smiled, "You're really heartless. Alright now tell me, where can I find the World Tree's seeds. Otherwise I'll torture this little guy right in front of you."

Two octopi sat one on top of each other, each holding two of Puudou's limbs. Nina smiled and looked away, "I don't care about that pig."

"That's really mean, Nina!" Puudou shouted.

"Oh?" Alibate grinned evily. "If that's the case I don't need to hold back."

Nina's face lightened as she took a glance back at Puudou. Alibate continued, "If this person really isn't truly your friend."

"I told you it's useless."

Alibate snapped his fingers, "Alright then."

Two of the octopi's tentacles grabbed either one of Puudou's cheeks and began to pull, far.

"Stop it," Puudou whined. Nina immediately dropped her act, "Oh no."

"Stop it!"

They all looked up to see Al hitting octopi off the waterfall. He knocked one down the middle then jumped off it and struck away the two holding Puudou. Nina jumped and caught Puudou and held him as she did a cannonball into the water. Alibate grabbed his head, "Ah! You're stronger than I thought!"

"That's because I have luck on my side."

"I don't care if you are lucky or not. Since you are here, prepare to fight! Go forth, octopus!"

The octopi charged, trampling Ariba in the process, right at Al.

"Bring it on!" he taughted but they suddenly changed direction. "Hey!"

Nina had just resurfaced and barely had any time to react as she was forced under by the octopi.

"Nina!"

"Alright, tell me, where can I find the World Tree's seeds?"

"Don't you ever shut up!" cried a voice. A chill ran down Ariba's spin as he turned to see Aran at the top of the waterfall. A deadly glare pointed in his direction. "Al, save Nina! I'll deal with this fox."

Al did as ordered and ran passed Alibate and into the water. But soon he was overcome with the massive amount of them.

"_The probability of defeating these creatures underwater is next to nothing_," Al thought. "_However, I have to save Nina._"

Nina however was think something different, she had just released a large bubble of air and she was struggling to survive, "_If I release my finger now, Puudou will drown. What am I supposed to do? Like this I can't use my magic._"

Al floated down next to the one that was crushing Nina and Puudou and began to push, but to no avail. So he tried a nex tactic, he braced his sword between a rock and the octopus and began to push down, thus pushing the octopus up. It worked, Nina and Puudou were free. Al grabbed her and quickly swam back up to the surface with a little help from Puudou's nose jet. When the blasted out of the water and onto shore Al laid Nina down while Puudou monotonely stated, "I've been saved."

However, they all immediately noticed that Ariba was no where to be found. In fact, both he and Aran were gone. Al leaned Nina against him so that she sat up a bit, "Nina...Nina, get ahold of yourself."

He shook her again, "Hey, hey, get ahold of yourself."

Nina slowly began to open her eyes. Al gasped a breath of thanks, "What a relief."

Nina slowly got up a bit more, "Huh? Where's Alibate?"

The sudden calls of 'Ariba! Ariba! Ariba!' caught their ears as Alibate suddenly ran passed them trying his best to avoid Aran, what he didn't notice were that his octopi were in front of him. He pushed into them, slowly sending him and his octopi off the waterfall passed them. Puudou danced around while Al and Nina grabbed eachother's hands and faced each other, "We did it!"

Nina suddenly realized the close proximity she was to Al and pushed him away, causing him to fall onto a dancing Puudou, "Don't get so close to me."

"Why did you push me away so suddenly?"

Nina mearly 'hmph'ed and looked away. Puudou sighed, "I hope you can control that twisted personality of her's."

"Is that part of my training, too?"

"Probably"

Aran the walked up and turned to Al, "Well, I'll see you later."

Al looked at him, "Where're you going?"

"We're being watched still and I don't think it's wise if I stay."

They nodded to him and he walked off.

* * *

Overhead on the cliff stood Barrow, tapping a wooden stick on his shoulder, "_Never-say-die Al, huh? But who was that other fighter?_"

On the cliff on the other side of the waterfall stood Gallus as he too watched the scene, "_An interesting guy_."

Gallus looked up and noticed Barrow was on the cliff opposite of him. Barrow noticed Gallus as well.

Barrow looked on at his old comrade, "_Gallus..._"

Gallus did the same, "_Barrow..._"

They stared at eachother for a long while until they finally turned around and left.

* * *

Later at sunset, at a crossroad in the middle of the open country, Al, Nina, and Puudou said their good byes. Aran had also made an appearance, sitting on a picket fence behind Al. Nina commented by saying, "I think it should be called interesting mountain, rather than of scary mountain."

"Yeah it was an interesting training experience."

Al pointed down the road to his left and continued speaking, "The Magician's forest is down the road in that direction."

"Oh, yeah."

"Won't the villagers get worried if you're not back soon?"

"That's true, it can't be helped since I'm the village chief," Aran rolled his eyes. There was a long silence that followed until Al asked, "Then, you're willing to accept me as a friend?"

Puudou answered, "Yeah, that's right."

Nina used her sharp-pointed tail to stab the poor pig in the rear, "Shut it."

She then turned to Al and asked, "Al, have you ever been able to read the emotions of humans?"

Al blinked, "Why don't you ask Aran that question?"

"Because up until now, I know you've been lying to me. You're human."

"Eh, no! About that...I'm-"

Nina paid no heed. She mearly summoned her pink circle again and floated off with Puudou right behind her screaming at her for leaving him behind. She called out to him, "See ya!"

Al smiled and took off his fake ears. The last thing Aran and Nina saw of him he was running off into the sunset shouted his normal line, "Back to training, training!"

Aran sighed and took off after him.

* * *

**Well, that's that and that took way longer than I thought it would. Ah well, nevermind that. Anyway, I might as well say this now is that I'm getting the English subbed of this story off YouTube and so far the whole thing is not english subbed so unless anyone can speak Chinese and wants to translate I'll have to wait once I get to that episode. Sorry for the inconvinence. Note: From what I remember, he's up to episode 15 or 18 I think.**

**~Teddypro**


	4. Al's True Colors

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or places read about in this fanfiction.**

**Chapter 4- Al's True Colors**

* * *

_It was the dead of night. The forest was quiet expect for a single sound. A sword struck the earth as a green drake wearing a vest and a green kilt fell to his knees wealkly. He had been defeated by a lone archer. The blue wolf humanoid stood over him with his Maple Bow prepared to strike him down._

_"You're finished," Barrow stated. He drew back on the bowstring further but just as he was about to release the arrow a hand fell onto his._

_"No."_

_Barrow turned around and was surprised at who he saw, "Grande, why do you stop me?"_

_"When fighting difficult opponents that are a threat to me, I will continue to fight to the very end," the human named Grande stated. He had long straight, brown hair until they reached his shoulders, which were curly. He had brown eyes and a tiny beard. He wore a red bandana and blue shirt was visible under short strapped black overalls. He wore dark red arm bracers and brown boots. In his hands was a dark, wooden samurai sword. "However, these guys have completely lost their will to fight. Leave them be."_

_Barrow let go of the bowstring, "You are too forgiving, Grande!"_

_Grande didn't answer Barrow immediately. He instead turned to the drake and ordered, "Get lost! Don't ever come back again!_

_Instantly, the drake got up and ran off with desperate gasps leaving his mouth. Barrow looked on surprised. Suddenly, the sounds of many more approaching monsters could be heard. The two leaders looked at their new opponents and Grande said, "It can't be helped. Barrow, let's go!"_

_Grande held his dark wooden sword to the sky with both hands. Slowly, it began to glow a golden white color. Barrow gasped and covered his eyes as a blinding light shown around them._

* * *

Barrow slowly awoke from his memory. He was smiling.

"A dream, huh?" he said to no one in particular. He looked out of his window towards the moon and muttered a single word, "Grande."

* * *

At Al's place, Al slept loudly in his bed; his legs spread apart as if he was riding a horse. He wore a green lined white shirt that was long enough to cover down to his knees. He slept with his sword in hand. He slowly rolled over and muttered a single word, "Father..."

* * *

The next day shown bright on Maple Island. Al's was training in the forest as usual. He had many small logs attached by ropes to tree branches that were swinging down at him. Aran sat next to a tree with Maha laying at his side reading a book he had so happened to have brought with him on his trans-worldly trip that he didn't even notice he had until now. Occassionally, he'd glance up at the boy, who was parrying the logs with his sword. He gave a large shout as he hit one and another and barely managed to avoid another one. He then stood up and turned around in time to swiftly dodge one log and then another by only an inch or two. Aran smiled. The boy's reflexes were definately improving. Perhaps this new way of training wasn't so bad after all, though he still thought that training sessions in Leafre, the Temple of Time, and Singapore were among the best.

He then heard Al's cry of surprise and lazily raised his eyes to an interesting sight. Al's was hanging in mid-air after being tangled up by two of his logs. Aran laughed, "Just hanging around, Al?"

"It's not funny!" Al shouted at him then sighed. "This type of training is not suitable for me."

Aran suddenly heard the words 'wooden sword' from nearby. He took it as the wind until he heard a nearly-untangled Al say, "Barrow?"

"Looks like you are having a hard time training, Al."

"Uh, what did you come to talk to me about?"

He smiled, "You're ready to become my disciple."

Aran's eyes widened and he swiftly looked up from his book. Before that last sentence, he had mearly been listening to the conversation. Now he was clearly interested but he was also a bit suspicious.

"_Why now?_" Aran thought. Al's reply derailed his train of thought. "Really? That's great!"

He was still trying to get his leg untangled. He finally managed to do so but the log bounced up and landed on his head. Aran winced but Barrow didn't seem at all fazed.

"_He stilll lacks sufficiant fighting power,_" Barrow thought. "_It'd be very dangerous if he encountered an enemy._"

"All right!" came a voice. Aran groaned slightly when he heard it.

"Oh, Gallus!" Al stated. Aran facepalmed. He knew this wasn't going to end well. "Why are you here as well?"

"Brat, I came here to accept you as my disciple."

"Eh, really?"

"Looks like you've arrived a bit late," Barrow pointed out. "Al is my disciple now."

"What are you talking about?" Gallus exclaimed. "Al, playing around with bows and arrows is useless!"

"Then barbaric warriors are useless, too."

"Barbaric or not, let's settle which is stronger right now!"

"Heh, interesting."

"Stop arguing you two!" Al pleaded. "I'll be both your's and Gallus's disciple. How's that?"

Aran rolled his eyes and sighed as he returned to his book. He knew this wasn't going to end well at all. Sure enough...

"Impossible!" Gallus stated. "I can't let you be his disciple as well."

"The same goes for me."

"Why not? I want to learn from both of you."

"Don't muck around!"

"Who do you choose?"

Al turned away in thought then turned back with a smirk, "If I really had to choose...I think I'd prefer to slack off."

SMACK!

All eyes turned to Aran who jolted his head up so fast from the statement Al made he smashed his head against the wood of the tree he was leaning against, "OW! Who the hell put that bloody tree there?"

"Hey you!" Barrow pointed at Aran who looked up. "I saw you up with Al and that Magician girl up at Scary Mountain! Who are you?"

"So someone was watching us?" Aran smirked. "Glad to know my instincts weren't wrong."

"Answer the question, human!"

"He is Aran," Gallus stepped forward. "The Pride of All Warriors."

"What? An evil human is your pride?"

"If you had ever seen him fight, you would know why. He could crush your entire village single-handed!"

"Can but won't," Aran said with a frown. "I refuse to get involve in this idiotic village war."

"Ha, so even your so-called 'pride' is against fighting us. You're pathetic."

Barrow suddenly saw a glint in the corner of his eye and turned in surprise to see Aran's gigantic polearm in his hand. He glared daggers at the two, "Shut up both of you or so help me I'll smash _both_ your heads together!"

When Barrow saw a nervous glance in Gallus's eye he decided to back down, too. Gallus didn't back down against just anybody. Barrow then turned to all, "So you'd prefer to slack off? Then forget my offer from before."

Then both the Warrior and the Archer turned around and left. Aran sighed, "I warned you didn't I?"

Al looked at him, "Hey, don't be so harsh."

Aran chuckled, "Trust me. I haven't."

* * *

Later, at Seron Henesys. Al walked through the town towards Barrow, who was teaching a group of his archers. Aran had decided to return to the Human village until he changed his mind. After hearing Al's plan to solve the problem with Barrow and Gallus he had said, "_You know you are going to get yourself killed_."

Al denied it and decided to move forward with the plan. He shouted out, "Barrow!"

The blue wolf turned. Al with a full three weights tied behind him with a string around his stomach stood before him with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. Al smiled, "I decided, I want to be Barrow's disciple."

"You declined Gallus adn the ways of that warrior Aran and decided to pick me," Barrow smirked. "You are indeed bright."

"Hehe, it's nothing," Al replied sheepishly.

That was when the tiny fairy Harp floated to Barrow's ear, "Are you serious about that, Barrow?"

"Of course. Harp, you will have the honor of training him."

Harp floated back a bit, "Huh, is that possible."

Al looked up at the two in confusion, "Isn't Barrow supposed to train me?"

"A newbie like you learning directly from Barrow? You'd need to wait another million years for that!"

* * *

Soon they were on a hill in Henesys. It was a lump of a plain with a fence running long one side with three targets running along the fence. Trees could be seen behind the fence and a stone road ran along the center of the hill. Al stood in between the targets and the road looking up a Harp. Five bunny archers were near them in a flank.

"Listen up," Harp said. "There's no point in unnecessary movement. Battle is a dangerous place, no matter the condition just keep firing your arrows until there's a winner."

"Ah, I got it!" Al said.

"Okay, let's get started."

"Alright."

Al attempted to draw an arrow but was shot in the forehead by a sticky arrow. **(A/N: Refer to A/N in last chapter)** Harp mearly said, "An opening."

After seeing Al's confused look she decided to elaborate, "You must make sure you are concentrating regardless of the situation. You'll need to practice this, if you don't practice this properly, when a real battle begins you'll be useless."

Al drew an arrow and pulled back on the bow string, "I see. Here I go."

Al fired the arrow at Harp. She dodged and fired another arrow at Al. It hit him square on the forehead again. Al grunted, "Damn it."

He drew another arrow and fired. She dodged yet again and fired her bow in return. It hit him directly on the nose. She then started to rapid fire and said, "Give me your best!"

"No problem."

Al threw aside his bow and quiver and drew his wooden practice sword. He then began parrying arrows. He parried them all.

"Alright," Harp grinned. "He seems to be understanding my true meaning."

She turned to the line of bunny archers and gave the order, "Alright everyone, let's help Al with his training."

"Yes," they answered in unison. Al then began to charge fast, sword draw, yelling a battlecry. Harp gave the order to the archers, who now had their bows draw with arrows, "Then, launch our three-beats continuous attack!"

She slowly moved her bow in a circle, "Okay."

The archers began to fire in a slow ripple effect down the line. Al stopped charged and began to deflect the attacks. Barrow was nearby leaning against a wooden pole and watched. He was behind a white picket fence on the other side of the road.

"Compared to last time, he's improved significantly," Barrow mused. "_This is phenominal, concentrating even while at a disadvantage. After Harp's instructions, he picked it up immediately. Amazing._"

He allowed himself a smile, "_Well done._"

Later...

Harp held out her hand, "Okay, we'll stop for today."

"Thank you so much," the bunny archers said in unison. Al on the other hand was laying on the grass, eyes closed, and breathing fast and heavy to catch his breath. That was when Barrow walked up to Harp, "You managed to drag out Al's full potential, Harp."

"Thank you for the compliment, Barrow."

Barrow remained silent and stared at the exhausted form of Al. More specificly, his wooden sword.

"Barrow?" Harp asked.

Barrow bent down and picked up Al's sword. One hand was at the end of the hilt and the other was near the tip. He looked like he was studying the sword and it was pretty well made, too. Suddenly, a hand came up and grabbed the part of the hilt closest to the small, rectangular crossguard. Al's hand.

"Return that to me."

Barrow slightly gasped as Al used the sword as support to get up while Barrow held it. Al looked at him with pleading eyes, "This is a precious sword."

Barrow grinned, "Yeah, of course."

Barrow let go of the sword and Al put it back into the sheath on this back. Barrow attempted to change the subject, "It's time for lunch. Al, won't you join us?"

"Thanks," Al replied. "But my mom has already prepared my lunch."

"Is that so? Maybe another time then..."

"I'll look forward to it then. See ya!"

"Yeah."

Then Al ran off out of Seron Henesys and Barrow and Harp watched him as he left.

* * *

It wasn't long before Al reached Seron Perion. The Warriors were continuing with their usual routine of clashing in one-on-one duels with one another. Al ran down the steps towards their leader and shouted, "Gallus!"

Gallus, Gigan, and surprisingly Aran had been talking with one another. When they heard Gallus's name called, they turned around to see Al standing on his weight shouting, "I've decided, I want to become Gallus's disciple."

Gallus smiled and walked towards him, "Alright. You declined Barrow and decided to pick me. You're always welcome, brat."

Al shook Gallus's huge hand and said, "I'm not a brat. I'm Al! Please teach me as soon as possible."

"No problem. Gigan, you'll be in charge of teaching him."

Al's face dropped, "Isn't Gallus supposed to teach me?"

"A newbie like you wanting to learn from Gallus directly," Gigan asked partially outraged, "just wait another million years for that!"

Suddenly, Al drew his sword and charged at Gigan, "Then try me out! I'm not a weakling!"

Gigan suddenly raised his hand, "**GIGAN CHOP!**"

Al's face suddenly went from serious to 'holy crap' as the side of Gigan's hand smashed Al in the face while in midair.

"One hit, knock-out," Gigan finished.

Aran sighed, "Well that just had to have sucked."

Al fell to the floor but he wasn't out. He held his face with his free hand, "Ow. Ow. Ow."

"That was careless,' Al commented, but Gallus didn't think so.

"Ignoring the size of your opponent and fighting without hesitation. Well done."

"Yeah," Aran said. "That's nothing short of true bravery, my friend."

"Listen up," Gallus said. "You would do well to learn the fighting spirit Al has. Some time in the future, we'll beat those irritating Archers and conquer the whole of Maple Island."

"Yes!" they shouted but Aran just sighed. There was no way in hell he was going to get invovled in this.

* * *

High above then, watching from a ledge of rock. Alibate laid on his stomach and watched.

"It's the same as before," he mused. "Archers and Warriors don't get along with one another. Hmm... don't get along with each other... I thought of a good idea!"

He immediately got up and ran off.

* * *

Al walked away from Seron Perion incredibly tired that day. It was sunset and Aran walked beside him, his hand on his shoulder.

"If I speed up," Al said. "I might be on time for Archer training again."

Aran looked at Al, giving him the face that that was a bad idea.

"This intensive training is really difficult," Al continued talking to seemingly no one in particular.

Aran looked at him, "No, you're going home. You've had enough for today."

"B-but..."

"No," Aran said forcefully. "You're not going to overwork yourself. Besides, it's sunset. I doubt there'd be any more training sessions today.

Al sighed, "Alright."

* * *

It was soon night and Aran and Al had joined Al's mom, Sora, at the table for dinner.

"Let's eat!" Al shouted and immediately dug in.

'You've been wandering around the forest all day," Sora said in a worried voice. "Could it be that you went to that other village."

"I'd never!"

"Then how'd you get that injury?"

Aran looked up from his food and smirked. He was eager to see how Al would wiggle his way out of this one. Al didn't even look up from his food, "Just from wandering about in the forest."

"Is that really true?" Sora looked at Al worriedly.

"I...just wanted to test whether I've become stronger or not."

"Stronger?"

"Yeah, but I didn't go to another village."

"I'm training by myself."

Aran rolled his eyes and went back to his food. Sora picked up a mug and held it near her mouth, "I see. If you really want to get stronger, a kind heart is always important."

"A kind heart? Being just physically strong isn't enough?"

Aran chuckled a bit, "No, of course not."

Sora nodded, "This is what your father said: '_When fighting difficult opponents that are a threat to me, I will continue to fight until the very end. However, these guys have completely lost their will to fight. Leave them be._'"

Aran grinned, "Mercy. Showing love towards an enemy. A true hero's virtue."

Sora smiled at Aran's sentence then continued, "For a man to truly be considered strong, he needs to have that of a kind heart."

"Being strong in mind, body, and soul," Aran commented. "A true master at his craft."

Sora nodded her approval and Al smiled at his mom, "I got it, mom."

* * *

Dawn soon arose over Seron Perion. Gigan yawned and went out to being his early morning duties, "Ah, I'm really tired."

He suddenly stopped and looked up, "Gallus, sir!"

Gallus stood before him but something was odd. He had strange lines going up and down at various parts of his body. His eyes sockets were also completely red. As if that wasn't clue enough. His voice also sounded metallic, "I have decided."

"Yes?"

"For us to be the strongest on Maple Island, we must begin our attack."

"Ah? Are you sure?"

"There's on last thing. I will let you, my most trustworthy disciple, deal with this."

"Trustworthy person. Thank you for your praise."

There was a short silence before Gallus said, "Defeat Barrow!"

"What?"

"This is our Warrior Tribe's declaration for war. What are you waiting for? Leave now!"

"Yes, my master!"

Gigan ran off while Alibate giggled behind a wall near them.

* * *

Al was running around Maple Island as usual with his weights. Aran was right behind him. They were running through the forest. Al was jumped down from three large stair-like rocks while Aran simply jumped from top to bottom. As he was running, the pig Puudou suddenly flew straight into his face. Al yelled as Puudou flew backwards right into the arms of Nina, who was sitting Indian-style on her pinkish magic circle. She smirked, "Gotcha! Trying to escape but always failing, it must be tough for you."

Puudou suddenly looked up, "It's you again."

"That's my line," Al said a little annoyed.

Aran chuckled, "Actually, it's both our lines."

Al smiled, "Hey Nina. See you later, Nina."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nina shouted at his retreating form.

"I'm very busy at the moment!" Al shouted back.

Al ran off again and Aran chuckled and ran after him. He got beside him and said quietly, "Good idea, ditching them before they could cause us grief again."

Al smiled back, "Thanks."

But it wasn't long before Nina was besides them again, "Let's see...nobody will care if I say this out loud. Al is a human!"

Al waved his hands in dismay and the pink circled disappeared and Nina and Puudou hit the hard ground. They all stopped and Al crouched down to Nina's level as she sat up and ubbed her now-sore butt, "Hey, watch what you say."

"Yeah," Aran supported as he cautiously. "We really don't need a bomb like that dropped right now."

Nina smirked in a snooty way, "I don't remember promising that with you."

Aran groaned and mumbled, "A secret shared isn't a secret at all."

"This girl is naturally stubborn."

"Tell me something I don't already know," Aran smirked.

Puudou screamed and jumped far into the air as Nina's pointed tail poked his rear. Nina then looked at Al and asked, "So what are you so busy with? Are you going to train again?"

Aran smirked, "He's just that predictable isn't he?"

"Hey!" Al shouted. "But yeah, I've already become both Gallus and Barrow's disciple."

"Eh, unbelievable," Nina said looking a little angry. Puudou waddled back over to them, no longer in pain. "Becoming that brutish Gallus and that arrogant Barrow's disciple."

"What are you saying? They're both so powerful!"

Nina suddenly smiled brightly, something that sort of made Aran nervous. "If that's the case, become my disciple as well."

"No way, no way," Puudou laughed. "This girl's stubborness is really...AIE!"

And with another poke, Puudou went flying again. Aran laughed, "So let's see, we've got brutish Gallus, arrogant Barrow... so Al, you going to add cruel Nina to that list?"

But Al was in thought at the moment, "Magician's disciple?"

Nina seemed confident he'd accept... but, "I think I'll pass."

Nina was indeed shocked, "Why?"

"I don't need any magic powers. I want to use my own power to get stronger."

Nina's eyes narrow in a charming kind of way as Puudou waddled back over. Aran was sort of nervous about this side of Nina, "Yeah, I guess your right. Having that kind of spirit isn't bad, but you've stepped in bunny droppings again."

Al's eyes grew wide as he looked at the bottom of his shoe. Again, a drummy bunny rushed over and cleaned the area up, "Oops, sorry for this."

It then walked away and Aran simply sighed. Al then turned to Nina and said, "I'm gonna leave."

And then he ran off but Aran didn't follow immediately, "I can't believe I'm giving words of wisdom to you but don't worry about being turned down as a master. Not everyone wants to be a certain class."

"Yeah, I know."

"Glad we agree on something. I suppose I'll see you later."

"Yeah."

Then Aran ran after Al fast enough to send dirt flying.

Nina then stood up, "Tch, so boring."

Puudou then began to chuckled widely, "Careful, you might be stepping on those droppings as well."

Her reply to that was another poke with her tail.

* * *

Soon Al was in Henesys. Aran had decided to attempt to enter Henesys and Barrow, due to the fact Aran had refused to get involved in any confrontation with the two villages, agreed to let him observe Al. When asked what his relationship to Al was he mearly said that when Aran first arrived on Maple Island he met Al and made a beat with him. If Aran could beat Al in a duel he'd be his guide throughout the island. If he lost, he'd teach him some secret fighting technics. Al readily agreed and Aran easily won. Over time, they formed a sort of friendship.

Barrow tried to imagine how a duel between Al and Aran would look. Due to the fact the Gallus had attempted to back away from an angry Aran during their earlier confrontation he could only assume Aran had beaten him badly at some point. So what popped into Barrow's mind was a chibi Aran leaning an extended arm on a chibi Al's head as chibi Al attempted to swing at chibi Aran. Chibi Aran was looking away reading a book while his polearm was edged into the ground behind him. He chuckled at the thought.

Currently, the two were sitting back watching as Al and some bunnies attempted to play the violin in sequence. The rest of the archers stood clear of Aran, especially after he was refered to as the Pride of All Warriors. Someone with that title was defiantly a dangerous opponent, especially since he was a human.

The violinists were all in unison, except for Al. And boy did it sound horrible. Of course, Aran was used to loud, obnoxious noises so he didn't really mind that much. The bunnies did, however, and they all covered thier sensitive ears. Barrow simply walked over clapping while Harp complained to him.

"Al, your performance is really bad."

"But this has nothing to do with archery."

"This performance will help you improve your concentration. Sooner or later, you will realize this."

"Concentration?"

"That's right. Beautiful music needs beautiful thoughts. Unlike those stupid humans. If they had those thoughts, the World Tree would not have been destroyed."

"You're right, Barrow! Telling those stupid and sneaky humans about beautiful thoughts is a waste of time."

"You're wrong," Al shouted. "Humans are not like that."

Aran groaned quietly, "_He's going to blow his cover._"

Suddenly, Al realized what he said and looked away, "But you might be correct."

"Why are you helping those humans," Harp asked.

"Ah no, I'm just talking rubbish."

"Either that," Barrow said. "Or you've been around Aran too long."

* * *

Soon they were on a nearby hill inside Seron Henesys. Al had a bow and was across from a bunny archer, Barrow, Harp, and Aran.

"Now, you and Al will have a one-on-one battle," Barrow told the bunny archer. "He's still a newbie like you. It'll be the best opponent for Al. Even though it's a sparring match don't take your opponent lightly."

"Okay, I'll do my best!" Al said eagerly.

Barrow raised a finger to the sky, "Let the match begin!"

The two duelers were soon running near eachother in the same direction. But their upper bodies were at an angle so they could easily see eachother. Both ran with their bows with an arrow notched ready to go. Al was the first to fire but it soared over the bunny's head. The bunny returned fire and Al barely managed to dodge the numerous falling arrows. He fell straight onto the ground. The bunny prepared to fire at him on the ground, but Al wouldn't have any of it. He swung upward with his bow and smached the side of the bunny's arm, jolting the poor creature to the side. He drew his sword and the bunny looked on in fear. Al saw the fear in the bunny's eeys and slowly put his sword away. Barrow saw this and asked, "What's wrong? Training isn't over yet."

Al quoted his father, "'_When fighting difficult opponents that are a threat to me, I will continue to fight until the very end. However, this guy have completely lost their will to fight. Leave them be._'

Barrow looked on at Al amazed, "Where did you hear that? No doubt it could only be from that guy."

Aran suddenly knew what Barrow meant, "_Crap, he must've known Al's dad!_"

Al and Barrow were locked in eachother's gazes for a long time. Al knew Barrow had him.

"_Father...what should I do now?_" Al thought to himself. "_Yeah... Father would just tell the truth. So that means I will..._"

"I am," Al tried to say but was cut off when an axe blade fell to where Barrow once stood, but he had avoided the strike. He instinctively picked up Al and moved him away, too.

"Barrow!" Harp cried. Aran's eyes narrowed to a deadly level. Barrow seemed a little fazed but he said, "Don't worry."

"Gigan, what are you doing!" Al shouted.

"Move away, you brat," Gigan growled. "Barrow! Fight me!"

"Barrow will not fight you," everyone turned in surprise as Aran walked between the warrior and Barrow. "I said I wouldn't get invovle in this stupid rivalry but Al's here and I will protect him."

"Did Gallus send you to fight me," Barrow shouted at Gigan.

"You don't need to know," Gigan suddenly charged. Aran stood his ground. Gigan attempted to bring his axe crashing down on Aran's head.

"Aran!" Al shouted but Aran sighed. "They never learn."

He simply dug his polearm's blade into the ground next to him and parried the axe with his arm and then brought the same arm around and gave Gigan a powerful punch where his stomach would've been. Gigan did a small front flip and landed on his face. The onlookers looked on in awe at Aran's display of strength.

Barrow sighed, "Gallus... he finally declared war with me."

"Hold on," Al said. "There might be some kind of misunderstanding. Gallus isn't that kind of person."

Barrow looked at Al slightly angry, "Oh, how does Al know so much about Gallus?"

"Oh...because..." Al began but then stopped. "Anyway, let me go and talk to Gallus to solve this misunderstanding. So please wait until I return."

Aran got ready as Gigan began to get up, but ran off after Al as he took off. But Aran heard Barrow's next words, "Al, you must seek the truth behind the words you just said."

Soon they were outside Seron Henesys running towards Seron Perion. Waiting outside the town was Nina, who spoke to Al as he neared saying, "Al, if you're training, I'll come along as well."

As Al passed her he said, "Ah, maybe next time."

"Is that so?" Nina said following him. "I guess I'll just say out loud that you're a human."

"Do as you wish," was Al's reply. Aran nodded in agreement. The warriors and archers were on the brink of war. Al's identity didn't matter at the moment.

"I will say it really loud!" Nina said as she began to fall behind the duo.

* * *

Gigan on the other hand was currently tied up in a storage room of Seron Henesys being 'interogatted' by Harp.

"It was really mean of you to attack us from behind," Harp sneered at him.

"Harp," said a semi-metallic voice and Harp turned to see Barrow standing there, but something was different. His joints were more square-like and lines appeared where they shouldn't've been.

"Barrow, sir."

"Return the favor to them. Go to the Warrior village and defeat Gallus."

Gigan looked on, terrified as a case of Déjà vu set in. These were the exact same words Gallus had said to him and the next part of the sentence proved it.

"Because you are my most trusted disciple, I'll send you."

"Alright," Harp said cheerfully. "It will be my pleasure."

* * *

At Seron Perion, Al and Aran had just told Gallus what had happened at Seron Henesys. He appeared surprise, "What? Gigan attacked Barrow?"

"Yeah," Al said. "And Gigan said it was you who ordered it."

"Impossible. I haven't seen Gigan all day."

"Then someone else is behind all this."

"Obviously," Aran muttered.

"Who could that person be," Al said to himself.

Suddenly, an arrow flew as from no where and was aimed at Al. Gallus quickly picked the arrow out of midair. They all turned towards where the arrow was shot from.

"What are you doing?" Gallus asked angrily.

"Aren't you the person who started it?" Harp asked. "It's a disgrace that the Warrior tribe would resort to such a method.

"You're just using Gigan as an excuse to start a war. Coming here would be digging your own grave."

"Hold on," Al said. "War isn't a good thing. Barrow and Gallus; aren't you the protectors of Maple Island? Don't fight anymore. Be friends."

"Go away," Gallus ordered. "Everybody, let's get ready!"

Al and Aran casted a worried glance at eachother as the tension could be felt throughout the air.

* * *

Gigan struggled to get out of his restraints. His mouth was gagged so he couldn't swear. Suddenly, he heard the door open and he saw Barrow standing there with a drink in his hand. He stepped forward, "I don't want to do this, but this is pay-back for your wrong-doing."

Barrow knelt in front of Gigan and removed the lid from the drink in his hand, "The Archer tribe, we still have a kind heart."

He removed Gigan's gag, "At least drink some to regenerate yourself."

"What kind of lies are you telling me?" Gigan said outraged. "To defeat Gallus you sent your own followers to attack the village!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Stop lying!"

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about," Barrow narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Something wasn't right.

* * *

Back at Seron Perion, Harp shouted with glee as 'Barrow' joined them, "Barrow!"

"Defeat Gallus," the mimick said. "Alright, aim your arrows at Gallus!"

"Go!" Gallus ordered and his warriors charged forward.

"Attack!" 'Barrow' ordered and the archers let fire. The warriors held up their weapons and deflected the arrows.

Aran's eyes shot open, "_Wait a minute, that isn't Barrow! We've been tricked!_"

"Stop fighting!" Al shouted desperately. "Everyone stop fighting!"

Another volley of arrows were fired. Al ducked and Aran dodged while Gallus blocked them with his stony arms.

* * *

Barrow hurried through the forest towards Seron Perion, Maple Bow in hand. He had finally reached to the back of the cliffwhere Seron Perion was. He knew he had to hurry.

* * *

Meanwhile, he mimic was speaking to Harp, "Follow my orders."

"Alright," Harp replied and the archers released another volley on the warriors, who continued to dodge or deflect them.

* * *

High above, Nina and Puudou watched as the battle continued to unfold. She was cheering them on, "Fight! Fight!"

"What a bad personality," Puudou commented.

That was when Nina noticed something, "Look over there."

It was Alibate, sitting on the edge of a cliff with some kind of mechanical device. He was fittling with it. Nina's eyes narrowed, "That guy is..."

"Alright!" the multi-tailed fox chanted. "Not bad, not bad. Continue onto more interesting scenes!"

* * *

Down below, Gallus was near a giant punching bag deflecting more arrows when he leaned against the bag to catch his breath. Suddenly, his duplicate came out from behind the bag and shouted out, "Warrior tribe's declaration for war!"

Gallus gaped in surprised and Aran's eyes narrowed, "I knew it."

* * *

Nina simply looked at the fox, "What is he doing? That guy! I won't let you do such sneaky things!"

She floated down passed him, almost knocking him down with her disk. Alibate held the device he was using closely, "Don't interfere!"

"You're the one who's interfering!"

* * *

Nearby, mimic Barrow was giving another order to Harp, "Defeat Gallus."

"Ok."

"Stop it, Harp," came Barrow's voice.

"Ok," suddenly, she turned around and saw Barrow running towards her. "Huh, Barrow? Huh? Another Barrow is here as well?"

The robo-Barrow held up its arms and fired a volley of arrows from where its hands should've been. Barrow quickly did some acrobatic flips to dodge them. He suddenly heard the voice of the Magician girl saying, "The one operating those machines is over here!"

"What?" Aran shouted and quickly attempted to get up to where she was. But Barrow proved faster as he fired an arrow straight through Alibate's machine.

"Ah, my machine..." with that it exploded. The Barrow and Gallus look-a-likes went haywire. Robo-Barrow began firing at random places and Harp was taking cover while Robo-Gallus was punching the wall of Seron Perion and the real Gallus went to face him.

"What in the world is happening?" Al asked. Nina floated down behind him. "You still don't get it? This was a trap planned by that guy."

"Why are you doing these things?" Gallus asked Alibate.

"Isn't it obvious?" Alibate grinned as the Robo-Barrow joined the fight in the village. "To make Archers and Warriors fight each other. Both sides will take damage and it will be easier to conquer Maple Island. Then I'll investigate the world tree after that. Surrender immediately."

"How can you do this type of thing?" Al asked in disbelief.

"You're right," Barrow fired an arrow and it hit the back of Robo-Barrow. A compartment opened in the mimics back and a battery-like object fell out.

"Ariba," Alibate muttered as he witnessed his first robot disarmed. Just then, Gallus uppercuted his mimic into the stone wall and the platform Alibate was standing on broke away.

"Ariba! Ah!" Alibate fell to the floor and all stood before him. Aran stood near him incase he needed his help. Al's sword was drawn and he was standing over the poor fox, "I will never forgive you! Prepare yourself."

"Let me go," Alibate begged as he fell into a prayerful position. "Please let me go."

Al hesitated for a moment. Barrow and the archers looked on as did Gallus and the warriors. Nearby Aran, Nina, and Puudou were watching. What would Al do? It seemed like an eternity, but finally Al lowered his sword, "Get lost..."

Alibate looked up at him surprised. "...and don't ever do things like this again."

"Yes, I got it," Alibate shouted and he ran off. Aran let go of a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. He quietly muttered, "Well done, Al. Well done."

Aran, Gallus and Barrow all approached him. Gallus looked at him, "Al, I need to thank you. I should really heed your advice."

Aran nodded, "Even the master can learn something from his student."

Barrow spoke up, "Also, I have something to ask you."

"Yes, Barrow?"

"Why are you treating those who've lost their will to fight so kindly?"

Al paniced a bit, "It's nothing, nothing. Those are small matters."

Barrow looked at him, "I wanted to thank you as well."

"Everybody, thank you," Al said as he backed up the stairs. "I'm glad everyone can be like this."

Suddenly, the Gallus mimic fell from its hole in the wall and fell to the ground with a massive crash. Rocks from above came loose and fell.

"Al! Above you!" Aran shouted in desperation, praying to the great Goddess above that he'd be okay. He could interfer. He wouldn't be fast enough. He dodged two of the falling rocks and he put his hands on his knees in a thankful manner. Suddenly a third came down and landed on his 'tail'. Aran's eyes shot open, "_Oh no. I think it would've been better if the rock had hit him on the head._"

Gallus and Barrow were looking on horrifed. Al didn't seem to notice, "We're all friends on Maple Island."

He attempted to move...and his tail popped off. Every monster in the area plus Aran gasped. Nina covered the eyes of Puudou and suddenly, Gallus, Barrow, and their followers face became enraged. Al wondered what everyone was so worried about. Then his eyes popped off and he knew why. He looked on at the others, horrified.

"Al, you're..." Gallus began.

"...a human?" Barrow finished.

Aran readied his polearm and circled around so that he was between the monsters and Al.

* * *

**Well, chapter 4 done. Sorry it took me so long. It takes awhile to view an entire episode. Well, that and I've been focused on schoolwork, sports, and my Warriors Orochi story. Anyway, it's good to get this 4th story out. Please review!**

**~Teddypro**

**Next Chapter: We're All Friends**


	5. We're All Friends

**Disclaimer - I do not own MapleStory.**

**Chapter 5 - We're All Friends**

* * *

**-Last Time-**

_Barrow spoke up, "Also, I have something to ask you."_

_"Yes, Barrow?"_

_"Why are you treating those who've lost their will to fight so kindly?"_

_Al paniced a bit, "It's nothing, nothing. Those are small matters."_

_Barrow looked at him, "I wanted to thank you as well."_

_"Everybody, thank you," Al said as he backed up the stairs. "I'm glad everyone can be like this."_

_Suddenly, the Gallus mimic fell from its hole in the wall and fell to the ground with a massive crash. Rocks from above came loose and fell._

_"Al! Above you!" Aran shouted in desperation, praying to the great Goddess above that he'd be okay. He couldn't interfer. He wouldn't be fast enough. He dodged two of the falling rocks and he put his hands on his knees in a thankful manner. Suddenly a third came down and landed on his 'tail'. Aran's eyes shot open, "Oh no. I think it would've been better if the rock had hit him on the head."_

_Gallus and Barrow were looking on horrified. Al didn't seem to notice, "We're all friends on Maple Island."_

_He attempted to move...and his tail popped off. Every monster in the area plus Aran gasped. Nina covered the eyes of Puudou and suddenly, Gallus, Barrow, and their followers face became enraged. Al wondered what everyone was so worried about. Then his eyes popped off and he knew why. He looked on at the others, horrified._

_"Al, you're..." Gallus began._

_"...a human?" Barrow finished._

_Aran readied his polearm and circled around so that he was between the monsters and Al._

* * *

Aran's sharp glare piecered through the two monster job instructors before him. Gallus and Barrow were hesitant to fight him. With out looking away from his foes Aran called out to Al, "Al, go home. Now."

"Bu-but Aran-," Al stuttered but Aran was having none of it.

"AL! I SAID GO HOME NOW!" Aran furiously ordered. Al was surprised. He had never heard him sound so angry. Immediately, Al took off. Aran slowly backed up. Then used his Combat Step ability to help him up. Soon, he caught up to Al, picked him up, and ran off to his home.

* * *

The next morning, Al, his mom, and Aran were eating breakfast. Aran had stayed silent since he brought Al back to his house the other day. Al was sure it was something he had done. His mom said, however, that it was because Aran cared about him and wished to protect him. Al still felt uneasy. As he was about to eat he simply said, "I'm full."

Sora and Aran looked up at him.

"Are you sure?" his mother asked worriedly. "You don't want some?"

"Hey mom...Dad fought to protect the World Tree, right?" Aran and Sora looked at the boy in surprise.

"Yeah."

"Are you sure? You're not lying?"

"Of course, why do you ask?"

"Those people from the other villages go too far," Al said with a bit of an angry tone. "They say that the World Tree was destroyed because of humans."

Sora had a terribly worried face as she spoke to him, "Al... you went to the monster villages?"

"No! It's a rumor I heard!" Al said trying to cover himself. "However, that shows that monsters are the true culprits!"

"Al," Aran finally spoke. "That's not something you can say for sure."

Al and Sora looked at him. Aran continued, "They are just like us. They fight for what they believe in and protect what they care about. They only wish to protect what they see as important. If you saw someone from another village near where something you cared about was destroyed would you not use them as a scapegoat?"

Al looked on surprised but he face soon fell. He knew Aran was right. His mother looked at him seriously again, "No matter what they say. Your father did what he did for everyone."

"Father did things for everyone?"

"Of course, then after your father was gone..."

* * *

_It was a stormy night in the human village on Maple Island. Sora was taking care of her infant son, wrapped in cloth in her arms. The child was crying. As she tried to calm him down, she looked out the window and the numerous droplets of rain outside. She was worried about her husband. She hadn't seen him since he took off with the other humans to save Victoria Island. Suddenly, a knock at the door was heard. She rushed over to the door and opened it. No one was there; only rain that poured onto the wooden walkway of the tree-top village. Lightning continued to flash. She looked around and found something leaning up against the side of her home: Her husband's sword. She heard footsteps and turned just in time to see a reptilian-like tail run down the wooden stairs out of the village and out of sight._

_"Wait!" Sora called, but it was no use. The figure was gone._

* * *

Sora smiled as she stood up, "Al, follow me."

Al got up and followed his mother to the storage room that was near the front door. The room was filled with boxes, chests, and vases that made a slight crescent shape around the door. Aran had also noticed what Sora was looking at. Something, in the middle of the room on a crate, was wrapped in fine, white cloth. She unwrapped it, picked it up, and turned around. It was a wooden sword. The wood was fine; a mix of deep brown and a lighter tone of brown. The blade was shaped like a katana but it had a rectangle-shaped guard and a pommel. It was the sword of Grande, Al's father. She held it out to him.

"This is father's sword," Al said in surprised.

"Monsters may have misunderstood your father," she said. "But someone sent this back."

"In other words," Aran finished. "Someone new that your husband's intentions were indeed for good."

Sora smiled and nodded, "That's right."

Al grinned widely and announced, "I've got it! I'll also make my actions helpful to everyone!"

"Then," Sora said as she held it out to her son. "I'll let you use this."

Aran grinned and Al had an excited sparkle in his eye, "Really?"

He reached out to grab it, but then suddenly stopped himself. Aran and Sora looked surprised, "What's wrong, Al?"

"Yeah," Aran said. "It's your father's sword. You should be honored to wield it."

Al looked at Aran, "No it's not that..."

Al again looked the sword again, "This sword...I will use when I'm stronger. After I have become both spiritually and physically stronger."

Sora smiled and Aran put his hand on Al's shoulder, "Well, if you need spiritual and physical training, well, you know where to find me."

Al jolted around half-shocked, half-excited, "Eh? You'll train me?"

"What can I say," Aran shrugged. "I've grown fond of ya, kid. Just let me know when you want to go."

"Let's go!" Al suddenly ran off, grabbed his own sword, and ran out the door. Aran and Sora shared a laugh, "Right now. Should have expected that response."

Sora smiled and looked where Al ran off to, "Yes, you should have."

* * *

Later, in the forest, Aran was meditating under a tree. Al was in a nearby clearing trying to pull up weights as large as himself by pulling a rope that was flung over a tree. The end of the rope that Al was holding had a medium-length branch and he was pulling on it. Al was obviously getting tired from pulling the weight.

"Aran," Al said to him. "How many more do I have to do?"

Aran didn't even open his eyes, "One million or until I say stop."

Al sighed and began to do more reps with the weights. He took a few deep breaths then pulled with all his might lifting the weights far higher than himself. But as he did so he revealed a wooden tiki mask that wasn't there before. He oddly looked at it and then it let loose and horrible scream as it face turned frightfully scary. Frightfully scary for a ten year old that was. Al screamed in surprised and immediately awakened Aran from his meditative state. Aran jumped up and grabbed his polearm and got ready to fight out of instinct only to see the tiki mask disappear in a poof of smoke. That's when both Aran and Al heard laughter from nearby. Girlish laughter.

Aran frowned and turned and, lo and behold, there stood Nina, laughing at Al's expression. Puudou was standing by her feet. He was laughing, too.

"Nina!" Al said angrily.

"Training I see, huh, Al?"

"Yes, Aran is training me. Don't interupt."

Puudou looked at Aran and muttered, "So he finally starts training the brat?"

No one heard him. Nina just shrugged at Al's request, "I'm only doing it for your own good."

Aran narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean by that?"

Puudou snickered, "Liar. You just came to kill some time."

Nina simply swung her foot back, knocking Puudou away. She grinned at Al, "That aside, you still have time to daydream like this?"

"Eh?" Al and Aran said at the same time.

"Both the Archers and the Warriors are searching for you right now."

"Searching for me?" Al raised his arms in triumph. "They finally wish to acknowledge me as their official disciple!"

Aran sighed, "Sorry to burst your bubbles, Al, but I seriously doubt that."

"His arrogance persists," Puudou states that results in a serious not-the-time glare from Aran.

"Alright," Al said raising his sword. "I will show myself to them!"

Nina still held an unimpressed face, "Acting cool is fine, but look at yourself."

"Huh?"

Apparently, during Al's little scare. His pants had fallen revealing white boxers with Maple leaves on them. Aran sighed, "_Al, I'm going to have to teach you how to act and look around a lady but more importantly..._" Aran looked at his new student, "Remind me to get you better training gear, Al."

Al panicked and struggled to pull up his pants. Suddenly, loud stomping could be heard as Gallus appeared, "I have found you!"

Al glanced back to Gallus only to hear a call from another direction. This time it was Harp, "You can't escape now!"

Aran looked back and forth between the Archers and Warriors. The grip on his polearm tightened as he thought silently, "_Maha, give me a bit of power. This may get ugly real fast_."

A mental image of Maha's boyish face flashed in Aran's mind, telling Aran that he said 'okay'. Al looked around, "Huh? Is there something you want?"

"Stop acting clueless, thief!" Gigan shouted. Al looked confused but Aran raised an eyebrow, "Thief? What on Maple are you talking about?"

"How could you steal our precious grain?" Harp asked rhetorically. Aran's frown deepened, "What are you talking about? He's been training with me all day."

"So you're involved, too?" Gallus shouted. Aran smirked, "If I wanted to steal anything I wouldn't have left anything that told you it was me. Obviously something like that did happen or you wouldn't be here."

"Quiet!" Gigan shouted enraged, "You stole our grain and we want it back!"

"We didn't steal anything!" Al shouted back.

"Stop denying it!" Gallus yelled.

"Fire!" Harp ordered and the archers let loose their volley. Al gasped in surprise and dodged and parried many of the arrows. Aran, foreseeing the attack, began spinning his polearm in a quickly to deflect any arrows coming his way. Unfortuneately, Nina was also caught in the flurry of arrows.

"Hold on!" she shouted. "This has nothing to do with me!"

Aran deflected a few more arrows before jumping back shouting, "Maha! I summon your blessing!"

In that instant, Warriors and Archers alike looked on as the yellow spirit of a young boy in baggy pants and a vest with a long ponytail appeared behind Aran. The spirit disappeared as a regal, golden shield that had the yin-yang sign in the center appeared and then dispersed into Aran's being. Aran began to glow a dim yellow. Aran smirked at the stunned monsters.

"Maha's Blessing," Aran explained. "Temporarily boosts my attack power. And since I'm already the strongest physically in Maple, you can guess what kind of power I have now."

Gallus blinked, "_He's..._"

Nina's eyes grew wide, "_...the strongest..._"_  
_

Harp gasped, "..._physically..._"

Al's eyes sparkled as a new admiration appeared within him, "_...in all Maple!_"

Aran's smirk widened, "And now it's time to introduce you to one of my favorite attacks!"

The Warriors and the Archer's immediately got into a fighting stance, not knowing what to expect from the man before them, who somehow seemed much more powerful to them than before. Before the Archers could even blink, Aran was right in front of them, courtesy of Combo Step. Aran grinned as he pointed his polearm at the shocked Archers. Then with all his might he swung his polearm upward as he jumped into the air all while shouting out, "**FINAL TOSS!**"

Instantly, a giant, spiked pillar of ice shot out from under the Archers, scattering them everyone and also knocking many of them out. The Warriors looked on in shocked silence. This lone man had just taken out an entire party full of Archers and the Archer second-in-command with a single attack. Aran looked at them and grinned, "What? Cat got your tongue?"

Nina couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by this man. Never had she seen such raw power. He had taken out all the Archers yet he didn't seem at all tired. In fact, it seemed like he was having a bit of fun, like he was toying with them. "_Better take this chance to take my leave_."

Nina summoned her flying disk and took off with Puudou. Aran didn't take notice of this. Instead, he looked at his new student, "Hey, Al."

"Huh, what?"

"Why don't you consider this part of your training? Let see how many of the Warriors you can fight off!"

"Huh, WHAT!"

Gigan, seeing that Aran wasn't going to be his opponent, charged forward, "YAAAH!"

Al yelped in surprise and just as Gigan was about to strike him with his famous 'Gigan Chop' Al jumped up and over the tall monster causing Gigan to run straight into a tree. The other Warriors charged causing Al to run around deflecting blows. Aran was impressed. All in all, Al was giving a decent dozen Warriors are hard time. Then his eyes widened in surprise as he watched. He shouted out desperately, "AL! THE CLIFF!"

Al turned to look behind him, "Wha-? ...!"

Al slide down the long, long, LONG hill toward an unknown direction. Aran eyes widened further if possible, "AL!"

Aran knocked away the Warriors in his way and took off after Al. By this time, many of the Archer's including Harp had recovered and they as well as the Warriors gathered to look over the cliff where the two humans slid down.

"That's the direction to the Thief's Village!" Harp exclaimed.

"We'll have trouble if we lose them in there," Gallus replied. "After him!"

The Warriors and Archers shouted their agreement and turned around to find an easier way down the super long cliff.

* * *

Al had kept sliding down the hill for a good couple of minutes before he finally plowed into a boulder hard enough to break it.

"AL!" Aran shouted as he jumped out of his sliding and land next to where the boulder once stood. Al layed there under a couple of rocks. All he could here was Al grumble, "I've stopped."

Aran sighed and shook his head. He heard Al give a slight 'huh' as he got up and looked at his friend. The boy was looking at something below them. Aran turned to look to see a city below them that looked like a combination between modern cities and the cities of the 20s. Aran's eyes narrowed, "_That looks like Kerning City, or Seron Kerning City in this world. That means that this is the city of the Thieves._"

Aran sighed slightly, "_Great. The last thing I need is to save a Thief from being crushed by my polearm that they were trying to steal._"

He could just hear Maha in his head whispering something about just letting the weight of the polearm crush them but Aran wasn't someone to let someone die for such a dumb reason. Soon, Al and Aran were in the city. It wasn't exactly like Kerning City. The streets were nothing but dirt roads unlike the concrete of the real Kerning and many arrows were on the ground pointed to certain shops. As Al looked around he commented saying, "Feels like a strange place."

Aran nodded, "_Looks _like a strange place. Be sure not to get too far Al; I have a bad feeling in my gut about this."

Suddenly, a bat-like figure flew in front of the two and flew off into the skies above the city shouting, "Ah! Looks like a couple of outsiders, outsiders, outsiders!"

Aran sighed, "Told ya."

The figure, which Aran identified as a Stirge, looked at them and Al came to the same conclusion as Aran had minutes before, "So, this must be...the Thief's Village."

"Over there!" Aran and Al turned in surprise to see Gigan and a few Warriors with angry looks on their faces at the end of a street near them.

"This way!" They turned the other direction to see Harp and the Archer's, bows drawn and ready. Aran growled, "Damn, they just won't quit!"

"Ah, this is getting so annoying," Al said.

Both humans took off down the path out of the line of sight of the monsters. They continued down the path only to find it was a dead end with steel locked door shut in front of them. Aran's eyes narrowed yet again, "_I don't think knocking a hole into what could be someone's house would be a good idea but at this rate I might not have a choice_."

They turned around to see the Warriors and Archers before them. Gigan sneered at them, "There's no escaping now!"

Aran's eyes narrowed as he fell into a fighting stance, "Don't make me make one!"

"You can't escape," Harp called. "Surrender now, you thieves."

"It was us!" Al shouted waving his hands in front of him as he and Aran were backed against the closed door. Then, Gigan and Harp pointed at them ordering their followers to attack Al and Aran. Just as Aran was about to start a massacre, the door behind them turned downward causing them to fall through an iron pipe, crashing all the way down it and somehow both the young boy and the young man with a giant polearm fitting all the way. After a couple of seconds they stop on a more level part of the pipe to find out they were being dragged. Aran couldn't see the figure nor could Al but the figure pleaded them to follow him the rest of the way. They finally pop out of the pipe and into a small fenced off area where they tumbled to the ground. That was when something burst from the pipe behind them and landed on them.

"Ow, what the hell! Get of me, you-!" Aran shouted but was interrupted by the figure who somehow got behind him in the narrow pipe. "Sheesh, temper, temper."

The figure gets off them and says, "You're exaggerating too much."

"Says the guy who landed feet first onto my back," Aran snarled as he and Al finally turn to see their savior. Al's face melted into a cautious one as did Aran's.

"You're the one who saved us?" Al asked.

"Ya," said their savior, who just happened to be a humanoid, purple alligator with large and dull fangs protruding from his upper lip. He wore a purple cap that had horns jutting out of it as well as a pair of goggles. He wore a red long-sleeved vest over a one-piece, deep-purple jumpsuit that went up to mid-tail. He wore mid-thigh high socks and a cyan bandanna around his neck. Al smiled, "Thank you, my name's Al, who are you?"

The alligator smiled, "I am the most famous among Thieves! I am the great Anji!"

Al and Aran blinked, "Anji?"

"Heard of me?" Anji asked proudly, his chin raised high. Al and Aran looked at each other strangely for a second before Al said, "Never."

Anji nearly does an anime-style face fault yet stops himself with a depressed sigh, "A really weird couple of guys, indeed."

Then Anji asked, "Why are you being chased by those people."

Aran shook his head, "They think we stole their grain, which is stupid considering we have no motive for doing so."

Al looked down depressed, "Yeah."

Anji blinked, "Mind explaining the whole story?"

Al and Aran nod. Later, Anji is looking down and with crossed arms, "Oh, I can understand how you two feel now. As a member of the Thieves, whenever things go wrong, I am the first one suspected."

"Well Anji to be fair I've been accused of many terrible things before. Honestly, I've learned to go with the flow, "Aran stated then turn to Al. "Al's still a kid, even though his morals are fantastic, there are many things about the mind and emotions and of certain experiences he still needs."

Al looked down saddened by this and Aran sighed, "Look, Al, I'm not trying to put you down, but you are still growing up and it's just a part of life. I understand your intentions are for good."

Aran smiled at Al who grinned back. Anji smirked, "Well, some of the things I did do though, hehehe."

A glare from Aran shut him up, "Not a good message, Anji."

Al just looked at Anji and asked, "Do Thieves hate Humans, too?"

Anji lowered his head, "Thieves and Humans are always hated on Maple Island, we could be considered partners."

Al stood up from where he was sitting, obviously very happy of hearing of a race that didn't hate Humans, "Great! That's the first time I've heard of that! I'm so happy!"

Aran shook his head but smiled nonetheless. He still was a bit wary of the guy...at least he was until he heard Anji's next line.

"As for me, I admire the actions of the Humans."

That threw Aran for a loop. A monster of this world actually proclaiming he admires the Humans? Aran always thought their pride would keep them from even remotely stating anything close to that. But then again, this was the leader of the Thieves, so who knows? Al, being his normal cheery self, was ecstatic. Yet Anji continued complimenting the Humans.

"For example, storing food."

"Storing food?" Al and Aran said at the same time. While Al continued listening in the hopes of hearing good comments about the Humans for once, Aran kept listening due to the fact that the whole reason they were even here was due to the fact they were accused of stealing food.

"Yeah, Humans can store for almost of a year before it rots. I wish I could learn to do that."

Aran sweat-dropped at that; even he knew how to do that. Aran's internal sighing ending quickly with Anji's next request, "Hey, can you bring me to the storage place of the Humans?"

Al and Aran looked at Anji for a second before Al leaned back, putting his hands on his hips, and said, "Sorry, but I can't bring you there."

Anji looked disappointed and said, "I see. If that's the case, there's still ten hungry children waiting for me to feed them."

Aran raised an eyebrow, but on the inside he was laughing, hard. This guy... a father? He couldn't see this guy as a father at all. Anji's next statement did reach Al, however, "I was wondering, if I could learn this storage method, whether my children would have to continue to starve. As a father, I really am useless."

Aran looked suspicious, he had seen this ploy before, with Nina on Scary Mountain. But Al, being the gullible boy he is, falls for it. Al starts to crying as he tells Anji, "I got it. I'll bring you there."

"Really?!" Anji states happily. "You're the best!"

"Al, I don't think that's a good idea," Aran states very suspiciously.

"Why not? His children are starving!"

"My point exactly," Aran frowns. "There's plenty of food on this island and he's the most famous Thief. How could they be starving?"

"Well, I uh..." Anji started.

"It's okay, Anji," Al said to him. "No need to explain. It's hard to imagine the life of another class. Let's go to the Human Village!"

Aran sighed. He was going to have to report this to Sora when they got there. As they were running, Anji thought to himself, "_Humans really are gullible._"

Then he looked at Aran, "_Well, at least most of them are. I'll need to keep an eye on him_."

* * *

Nearby, Barrow was looking around Seron Kerning City with a handkerchief up to his snout.

"This is terrible," he said to himself before he heard his name called. He turned to see Harp and his Archers coming up to him.

"Have you found Al?" He asked.

Harp was a little nervous when she answered, "Sorry, just hold on and we'll get him."

"That brat, escaping to a place like this! Such a dirty and disgusting village."

The heard other footsteps walking towards them and they turned to see the Warriors, headed by Gallus, walking towards them.

"Barrow," Gallus said. "Your grain was stolen by Al, too?"

"Yes, and Aran as well."

"That brat is seeking revenge just because we wouldn't let him be our disciple. Aran must be in on it as well."

"That seems about right. That brat does anything he likes."

"Especially, with that Aran fellow with him. Aran's always going to be on the brat's side."

Gallus put his thumb and forefinger on his chin in thought, "How are we going to beat Aran anyway. He has already proven that he can best any number of us with relative ease."

"That's not all, Master Gallus!" Gigan stated as everyone looked at him curiously. "When we tried to capture Al in the forest apparently Aran was training him!"

"What?"

"Yes and when we tried to capture them Aran defeated the Archers in a single blow. He claims he is the physically strongest being in all of Maple!"

"What?!" Barrow and Gallus shouted shocked.

"Hello." Barrow and Gallus look up to see Nina standing on her purple disc floating down to meet them.

"Nina," Gallus stated. "What is it?"

"Yeah, did you find any evidence that your grain was stolen by Al?"

"Yes, this is it," Barrow answered as he pulled out a note he found in his grain's storeroom. Gallus did the same and handed both to Puudou, who was by Nina's side. She looked on smugly as Puudou looked at the notes. Or rather sniffed the notes. He shook his head, "I can't smell neither Aran's nor Al's scent on either of these.

"What?!" Barrow and Gallus shouted surprised.

Puudou took another whiff and smirked evilly, "No doubt about it, this scent belongs to Anji of the Thieves."

Barrow and Gallus were furious.

"Did you say Anji?!" Barrow shouted.

"Are you telling the truth?!" Gallus asked angrily.

"If you don't trust me, I give up!"

"The truth is revealed," Nina stated confidently. "Anji put all the blame on Al."

Barrow and Gallus were clenching their fists tight enough to hear Barrow's bones and Gallus's rock body crack. "Abominable Anji!"

"Despicable and unforgivable!"

* * *

Near the Human Village, Al, Anji, and Aran arrived at a hollow tree.

"This is it," Al stated.

"There's nothing there."

"It's inside but you must keep it a secret."

"And be sure you do," Al and Anji looked at Aran who was glaring at Anji. "Because if you don't I have a hundred different methods of making you regret it."

At that, Aran cracked his knuckles to show his point and Anji began to sweat a bit. Al bravely stood up to the Legendary Hero, "Aran, leave him alone!"

Aran sighed and nodded, but Anji did notice the look from Aran that stated 'I-am-watching-you'. Inside the hollow tree was a rope ladder leading down a circular hole made of stone. Al climbed down while Aran stood watch at the door. Anji looked over the pit and thought to himself, "_So that's why. No wonder I had such a hard time finding it_."

As Anji climbed down, his tail ring came off and got stuck on a branch. Aran noticed this, "_Wait, since when did he have a tail ring_?"_  
_

At the bottom of the hole, Anji saw how the Humans preserved their food. Ice. It was a room covered with ice.

"It's cold down here," Anji stated.

"Yeah, the temperature is the same the whole year," Al stated.

"Wow, there's so much more," Anji was cheering until Al asked. "Aren't you learning the method for preserving your food?"

"So sorry, I can't help thinking of those children at home," Anji looked away all dreamy eyed. "If they could eat some of this food they'd be so happy."

"Bring some back and feed them until their satisfied!"

"It's it okay? Thank you," Anji said hugging Al.

"OI! WHAT'S TAKING SO LONG! I THOUGHT HE WAS JUST LEARNING HOW TO PRESERVE FOOD! IT SHOULDN'T TAKE THAT LONG!" Aran shouted down. He obviously wasn't happy.

"Sorry Aran, we're coming!"

Back up top, Anji was tying up a bag half as big as Al was. Aran didn't look happy at Al, "You gave him some food?"

"Sure, we have plenty!"

Aran was about to say something when he realized he couldn't give a very good argument to that statement and just sighed. Al then looked at Anji, "That'll be difficult to carry on your own. We'll accompany you back!"

Anji flung the bag over his back and smiled, "That's okay. See ya!"

Anji ran off and Al raised his hand in farewell.

"Goodbye!"

Aran sighed but couldn't help but smile at the boy's innocent generosity, "I hope you're happy, Al."

"I am."

"Then so am I," Aran smiled. "Now, let's get back to training, shall we?"

"Yes!" Al shouted as he shot his fist into the air. Al then turned around and noticed Anji's tail ring on the branch over the food storage's entrance. "Huh, what is this?"

"Oh," Aran stated. "Anji accidentally left it on the branch. I forgot to tell him he left it here before he ran off."

Al took the ring and then gave Aran a determined look.

* * *

Meanwhile, Anji was making his way through a desert-like plain with what appeared to be smaller rocks continously stacked on bigger rocks when he heard a noise nearby.

"Who's there?!" Anji shouted and Barrow walked out from behind a rock pillar. His archers joined him instantly, "You're the Thief Leader."

"You can't run anymore," Anji jumped around and saw Gallus, Nina, and the Warriors behind him. Now Anji was a bit scared, "Normally, you two don't get along with each other; you're relationship is improving now."

"Regardless of that," Barrow spat out. "Gallus and I will settle the winner some other day."

"Before then, we'll defeat you!"

"Why?" Anji asked slyly.

"Stop fooling around!"

"Stealing the grain from the village, and then blaming it on Al," Barrow said. "You're despicable."

"What are you talking about?"

Nina, equally as sly as Anji, held out the one of the notes, "Oh let's see, I will prove it to you."

Anji's eyes widened but for only an instant. The letter in Nina's hands began to glow and sparkle as Nina chanted, "Letter, o' letter, please fly freely to your owner."

She threw the letters up in the air and Nina waved her Maple Wand turning the letters into origami birds that flew directly at Anji. Anji started to panicked as the birds flew around him, "Go away! Go away!"

Nina slyly said to the two village leaders, "And that's that."

"Okay, it was wrong for me to steal," Anji shouted angrily at Nina. Puudou then smirked, "He just owed up to it himself."

Suddenly, Anji pointed behind him and screamed in terror. As they looked, Anji sped off, leaving a dust cloud in his wake. The Warriors and the Archers as well as Nina sped off to catch him. Anji was laughing as he ran, "Haha! They were all tricked."

The Warriors, Archers, and Nina were right on his tail, however, "Don't let him escape!"

The Archer's fired while they were running and one of them hit Anji in the back of the head, causing him to tumble and face-plant straight into a boulder. Anji turned around to see the Warriors and Archers charging at him, "Dammit."

"Hold it!" Just then Al jumped off a nearby boulder and between Anji and the others shielding Anji. Everyone was legitimately shocked.

"What are you doing?" Barrow asked.

"Step aside, Al!" Gallus ordered.

"What Anji has done isn't as bad as you think!"

"You idiot!" Nina shouted. "Anji put all the blame on you and Aran!"

"That's right!" Puudou confirmed.

"Anji isn't a bad guy, he's my friend!"

"Friend?" Anji asked surprised.

Nina's expression noticeable turned sad, "Al."

"I trust my friends!" Al said full of courage and determination. "When one of them is in trouble, of course I shall lend a helping hand!"

Of to the side, observing Al's actions, Aran smiled as he whispered to himself, "Protecting even those who have wrong him. Al you are like no one I've ever met. Don't you agree, Maha?"

The spirit boy's face provided a flash in Aran's mind of him nodding and grinning widely. The others on the other hand didn't know what to say. Finally, Nina spoke up, "Do as you like."

Nina then floated away, noticeably very upset. Al then turned to Anji, "Anji, escape quickly."

"See you later," Anji then quickly fled.

"Since you are in the way," Barrow said enraged. "Then I have no choice but to defeat you!"

Al drew his sword but Aran immediately stepped out into the open, his face darkened and ready for battle, "I can't let you do that."

"Aran, I thought you more sensible!" Gallus shouted at the Warrior. "Anji made you scapegoats in his horrible theft, yet you protect him alongside Al!"

Aran's glare sharpened, "I have no interest in Anji nor of your stolen grain. If you are stupid enough to let that excuse for a Thief steal you grain then it should be stolen!"

Aran proclamation stunned even Al, "My soul interest here is as Al's protector, trainer, and friend. Al is the purest soul I have ever laid eyes upon in this darkened world. I swore to his mother that I would protect him and protect him I SHALL!"

Aran immediately got into a fighting stance in front of Al and stated, "Al said he would always help his friends, and so shall I."

* * *

In Kerning City, Anji was walking down one of the dirt roads thinking about Al's resolve to protect his friends.

"The little brat," he said to himself. "Kept saying those disgusting words."

He kept walking until he met a familiar face in front of him. It was Nina, standing before him with wand in hand and Puudou at her feet.

"Yo!" she said.

"What's your problem."

"Even though I said I don't mind, I still can't forgive you."

"If you don't mind, don't interfere."

"Al's still a small, stupid, and innocent kid. Playing pranks on him is the best." Nina tapped a finger on her shoulder. "That is why I am the only one who can pull pranks on him."

"Why should I care?"

"A female's jealousy is so scary," Puudou snickered out loud causing Nina to swing he leg back and kick him aside. Then, Nina raised her wand to Anji's face. "Anyway, don't get close to Al again."

Anji smirked, "Do you know what my strongest skill is?"

"Strongest skill?"

"Escaping of course!" Anji shouted as he ran down a side path away from Nina. Nina shouted at him and ran after him a little before stopping and firing fire arrows from her wand at him. The fireball whizzed passed Anji who was scared for his life as he continued to run away. He finally reached a corner which he used to get out of range. He then hide in an alley as he tried to catch his breath. He then looked into his pouch and saw the food stuffs in there. He then remembered Al's words.

_"Bring some back, then feed them until they are satisfied."_

Anji kept looking at it as he grew sadder, "That brat, Al, is a really gullible kid."

* * *

Back at the fight, Aran easily fought off many Archers and Warriors. He didn't kill any of them; that would hurt Al. However, he did give them a holy hell of a beating. Many of the Warriors and Archers were unconscious while the rest were struggling to stand. Finally, the Warriors and Archers backed off. Barrow and Gallus were each very tired and sore and still getting around the fact that Aran was doing this to them without changing his emotionless expression. They finally got the point.

"Fools," Barrow stated.

"I bet Anji is laughing at them right now," Gallus commented.

"Yeah, you've won today, Aran. I admit defeat against your hand."

"Hmph, let's go," Gallus said and both the Archer and Warrior carried away their unconscious brethren. They left under Aran's emotionless gaze. He then turned to Al, who was sitting by the boulder where Anji had been. Aran knelt in front of him.

"I'm sorry you had to fight them, Aran."

"Don't be, I chose to get involve. I swore to protect you, and I will," Aran gave him a big smiled. "I trust my friends. When one of them is in trouble, of course I'll lend a helping hand."

Noticing Aran's quoting of his own words, Al smiled. Aran stood up, "I'll be nearby if you need me, my friend."

With that, Aran walked away. As he vanished from sight, cloud floated over the sun and began to pour down rain. Al couldn't help but smile, "Hehe, so comfortable."

He then heard footsteps coming towards him, he turned to see Anji walking towards him. "Anji?"

"Brat, you are too simple-minded," Anji looked away. "Also, I don't have any children. I lied to you."

"Really? That's great. That means there's no starving children."

Anji looked surprised at Al's statement. He had assumed Al would've have regretted his choice of calling him a friend right there, but no. Anji then looked over at Al, "Aren't you hungry?"

"We're friends."

"We are not friends!"

"I... owe Anji a favor."

"What?"

"The person who sent the sword back to Mom is you, right?"

Anji looked to the side as if thinking.

"That is what I heard from Mom."

* * *

_"Wait!" Sora shouted through the rain and thunder as she tried to stop whoever brought back Grande's sword. She sighs as she realizes she lost him. She gasps when she looks down and saw a ring uncompleted by only a small portion where there were two small gold balls just as gold as the ring itself._

* * *

Al showed Anji the gold ring he left behind at the storage room. It was a gold ring incomplete only by a small portion by two small gold balls. "I picked this up earlier. It belongs to you, right?"

Anji takes a moment to realize what it was then looks at his tail and realized that his tail ring was gone. Al laughed at Anji's expression, "This ring is exactly the same as the one my Mom found in the stairway when you returned my Father's sword."

He smiled again at Anji, "Mom's really grateful and of course I'm grateful, too."

Anji stared at Al soberly for a moment then snatched the ring out of Al's hand, "So you're Grande's kid, huh? Don't need to thank me! It's just cuz that old wooden sword doesn't match my collection!"

"Thanks," Al said.

"I already told you not to thank me!"

Al's innocent look embarrassed Anji that he turned away for a second. He then got Al up, "Come on, we're getting wet."

"So are you."

"You really are a simple-minded fool."

"So are you."

They snickered to each other more a second before bursting out laughing.

* * *

Nearby, Nina and Puudou hide under a boulder than overlapped a small one so that they were shielded from the rain. Nina was angrily looking away from the duo while Puudou was looking around the corner watching them. Puudou then turned to his master and asked, "Are you angry?"

"Never," she grudgingly replied.

"You're angry, just as I thought," Puudou did the best at crossing his stubby arms as he stated. "Can't be helped I suppose. You're one and only friend has been stolen by someone else."

She angrily shouted at him, "I already said he isn't my friend! I'm going back!"

She summoned up a purple disc and then surfed away from Puudou. He panicked, "Hey! Wait for me!"

* * *

Also nearby was Aran who was sitting on a distant boulder watching Al and Anji walk off. Maha, the spirit of the giant polearm, was floating beside him.

"One heck of a young boy isn't he, Aran?" Maha smirked as he sat indian-style in the air.

"He might as well be innocence, generosity, and goodness incarnate," Aran smirked. "I have no doubt he can make it on his own but everyone needs a guide at some point. He needs someone to guide him."

"You mean like how you've been doing."

"Yeah," Aran sheepishly smirked. He then pulled out a small, silver locket. He opened it to reveal a picture of Lillin and himself on their wedding day. He brushed his hand over the picture, "I'm sorry, my love. I will return to you as soon as I can, but right now someone else needs me."

Aran closed it and put the locket way and picked up his polearm as he stood up. Maha faded into the polearm as he did this. Aran looked out into the distance and smirked, "Al, I swear to you as my friend and as your mentor I will follow you and guide you unto the ends of the world!"

* * *

Later, at sunset, Anji is still helping Al back to his village. Al looked out towards the sun off in the distance and mentally asked, "_Father, can I really take actions for the good of everyone?_"

An image of his smiling father appeared before the sun and Al smiled back, "_Father.._."

As they continued to walk on Al optimistically declared in his mind that the next day would be a better day.

* * *

**Oh my God! I am so sorry I did not get this out sooner I have no excuse for it! Also, I am letting you know now that I only have approximately 2 years left on this site before I head off into the military. I promise I shall try harder to get chapters out more frequently but when 2 years are up I'll need someone to take over my work. I know it's still very early but 2 years go by fast so if you would like please let me know through PM so that I can at least start making a list.**

**Thank you and please review.**

**~Teddypro**


	6. A Stolen Heart

**Disclaimer - I do not own MapleStory.**

**Chapter 6 - A Stolen Heart**

* * *

It was a bright and shining morning on Maple Island. The day was beautiful and everyone was rising to get ready for another profitable day. In Al's room in the Human Village that was high in the tree, light from the sun shone through a small window of his room and bounced off mirrors around the room to hit directly on Al's pillow to wake him up. At least it would've woken him up if his face was actually there. He was actually half off the bed; his feet near the pillow and his upper body hanging off the bed. His hair barely touched the floor.

Al's mother, Sora, was standing at the doorway to his room with her arms crossed, "Al, wake up."

Al's eyes opened as his mother walked over and squatted down in front of her son. Al looked up, "Oh, good morning, mom."

Al's mother held out a white letter with a heart seal, "A girl sent this letter to you."

"What?!" They both looked up to see Aran with a shocked expression on his face. Apparently, he'd been walking passed the room when he heard Sora speak. They gave him an odd look before Aran calmed himself down and gathered whatever dignity I had left.

"Why so shocked, Aran?" Al asked him as he took the letter.

"Because," Aran sighed as he crossed his arms. "Up until a few years ago the only reason a girl would send me a letter would be to either chase evil monsters out of their town or to let me know my rent on something was up."

Sora snickered while Al looked confused, "Huh?"

"You'll find out when you're older," Aran grinned and rolled his eyes. Al blinked but looked at one side of the envelope. It had 'To Al' written in big, blue, fancy letters. "Ah, this must be from Nina."

At Al's smile Aran couldn't help but blink. True, Nina was the only girl Al knew but he thought Al was only means to entertainment to Nina. Aran suddenly thought of all the scenarios that a man thinks when they think about a boy and a girl and the only person they know their age is each other. Bah, curse his so-called 'always'-observing mind! Why didn't this ever work during a fight like it did for Mercedes, Luminos, hell, even Phantom?! Then a loud scream of pain caught his ears and Aran was shaken from his train of thought.

Apparently the envelope held a very angry bee that stung Al directly on the nose. Aran sighed, "It's going to be one of those days, huh?"

* * *

After no time at all, Al and Aran were busy running through the forest trying to find Nina. Al was holding his nose cursing all the way, "Dammit. Dammit."

Aran couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy, "_This reminds me of the time Hawkeye dyed my hair blue while I was sleeping in Ereve right after the war ended. Oh dear God did get his ass kicked by legitimately everybody: Lilin, Mihile, Irena, Oz, Nienheart, me, hell, even Empress Cygnus. Something about direspecting one of the world's saviors?_"

"Nina!"

Aran couldn't help but smirk, "_Ah, the screams of terror. Now that look back, Hawkeye's terrified face when I shouted out his name does make me pity him. Too bad I didn't feel the same way back then_."

They found Nina and Puudou by the river floating one her disk about it. They looked stunned to see Al's face due to where the bee stung him. Aran was a couple of feet behind Al waiting for the reaction he knew was coming. Al literally looked like he was wearing a clown nose.

"Nina," Al said slightly angered, which was still quite the show of anger for Al Aran had to admit. "How...dare...you..."

Nina and Puudou struggled to hold in their laughter but were obviously failing. It wasn't long before the rolled around laughing out loud. Aran and Al just looked seriously annoyed.

"What's with your nose?"

A ticked mark formed on Aran's head as he mumbled, "You should know..."

"_You've got to admit, Aran_," a mentally image of Maha smirked flashed in Aran's mind. "_It is pretty funny_."

"_Shut up you egotistic spirit_."

"I was stung by a bee!" Al shouted at her. "You sent it didn't you?"

Nina finally calmed down a bit, "Why are you so mad? You were the one dumb enough to open it."

Aran's tick mark grew, "In his defense, a envelope usually contains a letter."

That didn't stop them from laughing which caused Al to shout out at them to stop. Aran sighed, "Enough Al, you'd have better luck getting Barrow and Gallus to sit down for tea."

Al grunted and continued to watch Nina and Puudou laugh hysterically with a tick mark ever-present on his face.

* * *

Nearby, two goggled, red eyes stared out from a bush watching them," So is this is the indomitable Al and the unstoppable Aran? I've decided that it's them."

Aran and Al heard the rustling of the bushes over Nina's laughter and turned towards the bush. A shining gleam shone from deep inside the bushes darkness. Al looks on curiously, Aran warily. Suddenly, a pair of red, glowing eyes shown out as darkness spread around the area. A ghostly form in a grey cloak and red goggles charged at Al who jumped over it leap-frog style while Aran side-stepped as a reflects. The figure hits Nina and then floated right through her. She gasped as her wand suddenly appeared in the hand of the spirit who floated away.

Aran and Al turned around. Nina was emotionless and the sunlight that had shone in her eyes a second ago was no longer there. Aran raised his eyebrow, "_What the hell_?"

As Al rambled on about how that thing scared him, Nina began to bob back and forth. This got the boys' attention. "Nina?"

She then proceeded to fall over and land on the ground as her energy disc faded. Aran and Al looked at each other stunned before rushing to Nina's side. "Are you okay?"

Nina's face was still emotionless, but Puudou had the poor luck to be stuck underneath her back, "It hurts! It hurts!"

As Puudou struggled under Nina, Al and Aran put their hands to their faces and chuckled. Puudou shouted out, "Hey! Don't laugh!"

Al then looked at Nina and asked, "Nina? What happened?"

She suddenly blinked and awoke from her trance, "You..."

"You?" Al asked. "This is giving me a bad feeling."

"And the fact she was in a trance, lost her energy disc which always seems to be active, and the fact we just got attacked by some form of spirit didn't clue you into that already?" Aran deadpanned.

She sat up and looked at Al, "Who might you be? What happened to you nose?"

Al gasped a bit. Nina, surprisingly, looked sympathetic, "You poor thing."

Aran blinked, "Add 'Nina's memory and emotional loss' to that list."

Puudou and Al blinked before they both go wide-eyed in surprise.

"Nina's acting strange!" Puudou shouted.

"She's stranger than before," Al commented.

Nina gives the two a schoolgirl's smile as she says, "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you?" Al, Aran, and Puudou asked simultaneously.

"Stop acting so weird," Al asked politely and Nina's reply was, "Please treat me well."

Aran blinked and then gaped the last time he'd heard a female say that was-... "_No, Aran, not the time to think about your wife!_"

Aran shrugged, "Well, it's official. The Nina we all know is gone."

A cheerful gasp came from Nina as the trio looked up to see her look through some trees towards the sun, "What nice weather."

The three face faulted, "Case in point."

Al gets a worried look in his eyes, "Nina..."

"Hey Al," Aran says.

"Yeah?"

"I'm pretty sure Anji's been around."

Al blinked, "Anji?"

"Yeah, maybe we can ask him who that guy was."

Al could only nod.

* * *

Later, at Seron Kerning City, they met with Anji and tell him the story.

"A guy with goggles?" Anji asked.

"Yeah," said Al, whose nose-swelling had gone down. "He had goggles just like your's. He suddenly came at us, attacked Nina, and ran away."

Anji turned around, "Maybe..."

Aran cut off, "You know something about this guy?"

"Was he a comrade of your's?" Al asked.

Anji turned back around and nodded, "Battol was a subordinate whom I discharged."

Al smirked as he turned around and glanced back, "Weren't you discharged?"

Anji jumped at Al shaking his fist, "Shut up!"

Al jumped back as a reflects while Aran didn't even blink. Anji calmed down and continued, "Battol was with me a long time ago."

* * *

_Anji and Battol were across from each other in Seron Kerning City. Battol's gray mouth moved as he insulted Anji, "Don't you have any pride as a first-class Thief?"_

_"Are you saying I'm not a first-class Thief?!"_

_"All you do is gather junk, so the other Thieves think you're an idiot," Battol smirked at him._

_"What are you talking about, Battol? This has nothing to do with the other Thieves. It's enough that I'm happy with my own collection."_

_"No," Battol sneered. "If you don't show everyone even greater power..."_

_"Greater power?"_

_"All you do is gather things with physical form," Battol snickered. "You can't really call yourself a top-notch thief."_

_"You idiot!" Anji shouted. "You can't add things without physical form to your collection!"_

_"What pitiful words. Is this really who my boss is?"_

_"What did you say?!"_

_"I can't depend on a boss like you," Battol smirked. "From now on, only those with power like mine can live on."_

_"You bastard!" Anji shouted loud enough to scare other Thieves in the area away. "Who are you to speak to me like that?! Get lost! You're fired!"_

* * *

Al sat in a thinking pose, Anji was still think standing up, and Aran was thinking leaning against a wall.

"Gathering things without form..." Al muttered. Aran's eyes shot open, "Wait..."

Anji and Al looked at him strangely. Aran grinned, "I think I may know what he's talking about!"

"Really?" Anji blinked. "What?"

Aran smiled faded, "I have a friend who is a Thief. His name is Phantom. He was very well known around my homeland for being able to steal the abilities of other people and classes."

Anji and Al blinked, "What?!"

Aran nodded, "Obviously, Battol's method of stealing goes a bit deeper than that considering what happened to Nina after the theft occurred."

"But what?" Al asked.

Aran thought for a moment then suddenly came to a horrible realization, "...her soul..."

* * *

"So a thief called Battol stole Nina's soul?" Puudou asked. They had found Nina and Puudou around sunset in the fields. Nina was looking out over the sunset while Puudou was off to one side talking with Aran and Al.

"Nobody can see a soul, right?" Al asked. He was sitting on the grass looking at Puudou. Aran sat Indian-style next to him.

"Speaking of which," Puudou said. "Where does the 'soul' reside?"

"In your case," Al frowned. "You might not even have one."

"What! Why?!" Puudou asked horrified which earned a snicker from Aran.

"Hehe, I'm joking," Al smiled.

"Don't scare me like that," Puudou muttered.

Al's face then melted into a saddened one, "But now Nina's like this..."

The trio look towards where Nina was standing. She had a calmed and sweet expression on her face as she gazed at the beautiful sunset. Aran's grin fell; it was kind of creepy seeing Nina like this.

"The setting sun is so beautiful," she said dreamily. "It'll be clear tomorrow, too."

Case in point.

All three of them blinked. This was not the Nina they were used to. Al grinned, "Yeah, it'll clear up tomorrow."

Puudou sagged his shoulders, "Somehow this bothers me."

"Ditto," Aran added in.

Al then frowned determinedly, "Puudou, I will get Nina's soul back from Battol!"

Puudou then smirked evilly, "But isn't it better for her to be quiet like this?"

CRACK!

The bottom of Aran's fist found it's way into Puudou's skull and smacked him into the ground. Aran had a tick mark on his head, "I'm pretty sure Al was right when he said you had no soul."

"Yeah," Al said. "That isn't Nina!"

Recovering from Al's blow before, Puudou dared to comment again, "Does that mean you like Nina the way she was before?"

Al answered his question with another question, "Isn't it boring for an important friend to act so dumbfounded?"

Al stood up, "I want Nina to be Nina."

"Besides," Aran grinned. "You can't say it was boring with her old self around."

* * *

Meanwhile, Battol was testing out the soul he capture deeper into the forest. Oddly enough, he spoke with Nina's voice, "What's this? This is completely useless!"

As his voice faded back to normal he commented, "This Nina's soul is certainly twisted. I need to teach her a lesson."

Then, an idea of brilliance struck him, "Oh yeah. It's because he avoid me that things ended up this way."

His eyes narrowed, "Alright!"

* * *

During the night, Gallus had summoned the Warriors in Seron Perion for a meeting.

"Alright!" he shouted. "We shall begin our nightly exercise!"

As the other Warriors shouted their agreement, Nina's purple energy disc flew overhead. This got the Warriors' attention. They looked up towards where Nina's disc was and her voice spoke out, "Good evening members of the Warrior clan!"

"Is that you, Nina?" Gigan asked. "What are you here for?"

"I just wanted to say hello."

"To say hello," Gallus asked a bit confused. Battol's eyes narrowed behind the wand, "Don't lay a hand on my pet from now on."

With that, Battol shot into the raised, raised the wand, and fired a thunder bolt into the Warriors. The light from the thunderbolt blinded the Warriors. Gallus was enraged, "Nina! What are you doing?! Take off that robe and show me your face!"

"It's all Al's fault," Battol said as he stopped the thunderbolt. "If you have any complaints, go see him."

He laughed in Nina's voice as he flew off into the night sky. The Warriors, meanwhile, went to the aid of the fallen comrades.

"Are you okay?"

"Hang in there!"

"Okay..."

Gallus raised his arm and clenched his fist in fury, "Those cowardly Humans! Did Al use Nina to attack us?"

Gallus threw his arm aside and shouted out in a sheer rage, "This is unforgivable!" **(A/N - Sheesh, how many times are they going to fall for this stuff?)**

* * *

Soon, Gallus and the Warriors had Al, Nina, and Puudou tied to large punching bags. The Warriors managed to nab them while Aran headed back to Al's house to inform Sora they'd be staying with Nina until she recovered her soul. Gallus had just finished giving Al the reason for their capture.

"You're accusing us of what?!" Al shouted out.

"Ah, this has nothing to do with me!" Puudou squealed.

"It's as clear as day!" Gallus stated. "You used Nina to hurt us!"

"What are you talking about?" Al shouted again as Puudou continued to struggle to break free.

"Did you hear that everybody?" Gigan asked as he turned to the other Warriors. "This is the trickery of the Humans!" **(A/N - Racist!)**

"Those interfering Humans!"

"We don't know anything!"

"Don't lie!"

"Take a look at Nina!" Al said as he looked at her. She was absolutely emotionless.

"You're a real strong and wonderful man," she said innocently, which was completely unlike her. Gallus blushed at the comment.

"Lord Gallus!" Gigan called. "Don't be fooled! This is human trickery!"

"We're not trying to fool you!" Al said. "Would Nina say something like that? Nina's in this state because her soul was taken!"

"Her soul was taken?"

"By a Thief named Battol," came a voice and the Warriors and Al looked to see Aran walking towards them. Obviously, he wasn't happy with Gallus and the Warrior Leader could already feel a sense of unease at this. Aran had already proven to have a godly amount of strength, skill, and power behind him and Gallus had already suffered a couple of humiliating defeats by this human. He was not looking forward to another.

"You say Nina's soul was taken by a Thief?" Gallus asked.

"Impossible!" Gigan shouted. "No Thief can steal a soul! You Humans and your dirty lies!"

"Look," Aran said after he had taken a deep breath. "I'm trying to be civil here and not whoop your asses to get what I want. As far as I'm concerned, it's just proving your statements right. Can't we just negotiate on this?"

Gigan snarled, "Why you-!"

Suddenly, Gallus moved his arm in front of Gigan, who, needless to say, was very surprised, "Lord Gallus!"

Gallus looked at Gigan to shut him up, then back at Aran, "What do you have in mind, Aran?"

Gallus looked on at the Pride of All Warriors. He knew Aran had a point. He could just utterly destroy them to free Al, Nina, and the pig, but he was trying a more civil approach here. And deep in the back of his mind, he was grateful. Aran slightly nodded his thanks at Gallus hearing him out, "I propose a deal, Gallus."

"What kind of a deal?"

"I bring Battol the Thief back and prove to you he stole Nina's soul and you let Al and Nina go."

"Hey!" Puudou shouted drawing the attention of the two. "What about me?!"

Aran smirked, "Oh, and the pig, too."

"And if you can't?" Gallus asked curiously, though he wish his voice hadn't sounded so arrogant when he did.

"I'll work for you just as another one of your soldiers, not questioning a single order," Aran bowed and grinned with a line that sealed the deal. "My lord."

Gallus couldn't help but smirk. In his opinion, either way he won. Either he let the two and the pig go without Aran forcing them to or he gain a valuable ally. Gallus raised his arm to shake hands to seal the deal.

"Deal."

"Good," Aran smirked as his shook Gallus's hand. He clenched his fist a bit to prove to Gallus once more he was stronger. Gallus got the point.

"Aran," Al asked worriedly. "Are you sure about this?"

Aran simply smiled and gave him a confident nod, "Don't worry, Al. You'll be free before you know it!"

With that, Aran ran off, determined to capture Battol. Al, Nina, and Puudou remained tied there as the Warriors went off to their houses to rest. They would stay there for much of the night.

* * *

Later that night, Al and Puudou were both asleep in their uncomfortable position tied to the punching bag when they awoke to Nina's laughter. At first the two looked at Nina but she was still completely emotionless. Nina's voice suddenly came from the sky, "What a shameful look."

The two looked up and to their horror there was Battol, wielding Nina's Wand and on Nina's energy disc, floating down towards them.

"Aren't you embarrassed?" he asked still using Nina's voice.

"Battol!"

"Hehehe," Battol snickered in his own voice. "I've finally caught you, Al!"

"I know this is all you're doing," Al shouted at him. "So return Nina's soul, now!"

"Fine then," Battol said causing Al to look up curiously. "I don't really need souls from girls like her. They're full of pride and hard to handle."

Puudou smirked a bit, "It's this girl..."

Battol leaned towards him, "The soul I really want is...The indomitable Al!"

"Your soul!" Battol charged right for him. Al was terrified, "No way!"

But before Battol could achieve his prize, Aran struck the punching bags out of the way, allowing himself to take the blow from Battol. Al was horrified as was Aran as the last image Aran had was actually the mental image of Maha with a horrified expression, which was an expression he had never seen him with.

Battol landed nearby as a pink essence fled from Battol and into Nina. Al looked up. Battol now had a little bit of a blue tint to him. Battol was studying himself, astonished.

"Such...strength...," he whispered. "Such...pure, raw power!"

Battol raised his head up to the sky and shouted, "I am invincible!"

Battol picked up Maha from the ground next to Aran's soulless body. Maha was still in shock by what had happened. Battol floated away, leaving Al to weep at the hopelessness of every retrieving Aran's soul from Battol...

* * *

It was a little while later when Nina woke up, still tied to the punching bags which were now on the floor. She could hear Al softly crying and Puudou still struggling to break free. Nina laughed, "Haha! Crying Al? How pitiful! What a shameful face!"

Puudou deadpanned at Nina, "Looks like Nina is back to normal."

"Huh?" Nina looked confused and it was then she realized she was tied to a punching bag on the ground. "What is this?!"

Puudou urgently said, "Do something."

Nina glared slightly at the pig, "You don't have to say that!"

"I'm in the same situation!" Puudou replied waving his feet in mid-air. She then pointed his right index finger at the ropes beside him, "Fire arrow!"

A small fireball flew out of her finger and hit the ropes. Puudou was legitimately scared, "Hot! Hot! HOT!"

Puudou burst free of the ropes then flew into the air. He landed face first on the stone ground. He groaned, "I knew it'd be like this if she went back to her normal self."

She then freed herself and then Al, who immediately went to Aran's side. Aran was still unconscious even though clearly Nina was awake long before then. Nina looked at Aran confused, "What happened to him?"

Al sniffed, "The Thief Battol took his soul."

"What?"

"Battol attempted to take Al's soul but Aran knocked him away and took the hit," Puudou said walking up.

"His soul?"

"It happened to you, too," Puudou pointed out. "Unlike you, however, Aran still hasn't woken up. I wonder why?"

Nina just looked on as Al continued to stare at Aran's body. Al knew the power Aran held and knowing it was in the possession of someone else meant there was little chance of getting it back. Nina sighed and walked away, "They're boring like this."

She summoned her energy disc and stepped onto it. As it floated up, Puudou jumped onto it, "You can't do that!"

The jump stopped it from rising, "You were strange before your soul was returned."

"Huh, returned?"

"I mean they wanted to return your soul," Puudou told her. "And they never said anything about abandoning you. Aran even left to inform Al's mother that they'd be staying with you until you returned to normal. That was when we were captured."

Nina grabbed Puudou and lifted him up into the air, "What do you want me to do?"

"If you can, you should get Aran's soul back from Battol," Puudou said. "Besides, with a power like Aran's in that Thief's possession who knows what he could do."

"I don't have any interest in getting Aran's soul back."

"But they're good people. Both Al and Aran."

Nina looked at him with a surprised expression. Puudou smiled at her, "Right?"

It was then Nina floated back down to Aran and Al. Al looked up surprise. Nina looked at him with a calm face, "This is only supposed to be for two people...but I suppose I can strain the effort to carry both of you."

Al sniffed and rubbed his eyes. He looked up at Nina and smiled, "Thank you."

Soon, they were flying off into the sky. Aran's body was laying on a slightly bigger version of the disc while Nina was holding Al out off the disc. Puudou snickered, "You helped them in the end."

"Shut it!"

Down in Seron Perion, watching them fly off, was Gallus. He stared off to where they had flown to...

* * *

"What is the meaning of this?!" Anji shouted as he look on at Battol who had gathered Anji's followers behind him. Anji was also shocked to see Aran's polearm in Battol's hands and resting on his back. Battol snickered, "As you can see, I have taken your place as boss."

"What?!"

"Everyone has acknowledged my strength and power, right?"

"Yes."

"Of course."

"This is impossible!" Anji shouted. He was being forced to leave the city. He was on the bridge over a chasm into the forest.

"I already warned you," Battol said, pointing the polearm at Anji. "When the world ends only the strong will survive. You've seen it too right? The hatred between the tribes?"

Anji stepped back. He did not like where this was going.

"They curse each other and use their power to bring down others. Now those you've seen before prostrate themselves before my power. And now I've become the new boss. The one who bears the ultimate power... is me!"

Anji noticed that the last words spoken were in Aran's voice, "That voice is...!"

"That's right. The soul I've stolen is the soul of Maple's strongest being, Aran the Legend!"

Battol flew up to one of the buildings in Kerning, "Behold my overwhelming strength! With his power and strength, I can rule all of Maple Island!"

"Taking his precious soul... Aran would dare allow you to!"

"He didn't," Battol smirked. "He took a blow for Al, whose soul was the one I was actually trying to steal, but Aran's power more than makes up for the miss. Aran is nothing but an empty shell now."

Battol then looked up to the sky, "Actually, it may not be a bad idea to get rid of any hindrances now."

* * *

Soon, Al, Nina, and Puudou had taken Aran's still-unconscious body to their little island next to the waterfall at Scary Mountain. Puudou looked at Nina, "Nina, why'd you bring them to this dreadful place?"

"Because Al loves to train," Nina answered. "We can get his mind off of Aran for right now while we figure out where Battol is."

Nina points at him, "Right, Al?"

Al looked up at Nina with a slightly angered face, "How can I keep training when the person who has been my only real mentor is like this?"

Nina then angrily stopped over to Al and pushed him into the water, "I went through all the trouble of bringing you two here! You should at least be a little happy!"

Al managed to climb back onto the island but he look a bit out of it. Puudou helped pull Al back onto the island, "Come on. Snap out of it! Would Aran like to see you in this funk?"

"What do you know about what Aran wants of me?!"

"Because he says it all the time! He's proud of you and what you've done! I've even heard him boast about how could you're getting training under him! He's proud that you are trying to bring peace and harmony to all and that you're trying to befriend people from every faction. How you put up with all the demeaning things said by the others! How you still want to be their friends no matter what they do to you!" Puudou shouted at him. Al looked ashamed and Nina, who was facing away from them, looked sad. "Would Aran want you to stop everything just because he isn't around?"

"No..." Al said as a single tear fell from his eye. Nina got up and walked over to them. Her face looked determined, "I said I would help retrieving Aran's soul back from Battol, and I will. But first you need to snap out of it!"

Al smiled at Nina and stood up. He raised his fist in the air, "Aran, we will get your soul back! I promise!"

"Can you keep that promise?" came a voice and the trio looked up to see Battol standing at the top of the small isle.

"Battol!" Al said angrily. "Give back Aran's soul now!"

"No," he said smirking.

"Why are you here anyway?" Puudou asked suspiciously.

"After going through everything to get Aran's soul it bothered me to see him still out-cold. Normally, they're awake and an empty-shell right now, but no one has been out so long," Battol looked at them and smirked evilly. "It bothered me and I assumed there was a problem. So I decided to _eliminate_ the problem."

"I won't let you touch Aran!" Al shouted drawing his wooden sword. "You're the reason he's even like this!"

"I've merely decided to put an end to all this," I pointed to the top of one of the nearby eggs in the mountainside as a group of Thieves appeared there. The trio looked a bit worried as Battol pointed Aran's polearm at them, "Go!"

The Thieves, which included chronoses, bats, and mimic chests, attacked them. The trio was immediately overwhelmed and Battol simply laughed, "Do you see the power of us Thieves?"

In the brush nearby, Anji was hiding, "This is getting bad, but Aran's soul is just too powerful."

Suddenly, a rumbling caught Anji's attention. He looked up to see Gallus, Gigan, and a number of the other Warriors sliding down the ridge towards the Thieves, "What?!"

They landed near Battol and the others. Gallus didn't look happy.

"Gallus!" Nina shouted as she prepared her wand. The Thieves had backed away from them. "Why did you come here?"

"I came here to take care of that Human," Gallus stated. "Aran made a deal with me that he wouldn't break Al and the others free if he agreed to prove that Nina's soul was stolen. The bags were broken off their staves so I came here looking for him."

"What?!"

Battol laughed, "Well, this is interesting. Then let's all attack!"

"Wait!" Anji shouted as he ran out to face Gallus. "Gallus, Aran did it to protect Al! He was going to have his soul stolen!"

"Who said the coward I came here to fight was him?"

"HUH?!" everyone shouted out except the Warriors.

"The one I came to defeat," Gallus shouted as he pointed at Battol. "...is HIM!"

Battol looked startled while Anji, Nina, Al, and Puudou looked shocked to say the least. Though it soon melted into determination as the Thieves suddenly turned back to Anji's side.

"Calm down," Battol told me as he held out his free hand to wave them off. "I'm not a Human! I am a Thief Monster! Isn't that right everyone? Come on, Anji! Back me up on this!"

Anji looked away and crossed his arms, "That is certainly hard to say, but residing within him right now is a Human soul!

The Warriors, Nina, and Al all prepared to fight Battol. He began to laugh as he raised Maha to them, "Fine then! Fight me! I have the soul of Maple's strongest being! I have all the power I need to crush you!"

"If all you have is power," came a voice that startled everyone. They all turned to see Aran standing up. His eyes didn't look blank at all. "Then in reality you have no power at all."

"Aran!" Al shouted excitedly.

"B-but how?!" Battol shouted terrified. "I stole your soul! You should be an empty shell right now!"

"Half my soul."

"What?"

"You only took half of my soul," Aran pointed out. He smirked as he saw their dumbfounded expressions. They were amusing. "Oh come now, give me some credit! I've been around Master Thieves long enough to prevent theft!"

"Wait!" Battol shouted as he came to a terrifying realization. "So all this power I have right now is only HALF of your power."

Aran smirked, "Indeed."

Aran walked through the crowd and up to Battol, "So it all comes down to whoever wields the polearm."

Battol then lost his terrified expression as it turned into a smirk, "I wield the polearm! I have already won!"

"You don't know much about Maha do you?"

Battol blinked, "Maha?"

"The polearm."

"It has a name?" he asked when suddenly the polearm began to glow as a boy with a pony tail, a vest, and baggy pants appeared in mid-air. The boy was glowing orange and had a ring of spining runes behind him. He was not happy, "OF COURSE I HAVE A NAME, YOU IDIOT!"

The others were legitimately shocked, "Who are..."

"I am Maha," the boy said fiercely. "The spirit of the polearm! Now if you would be so kind as to return the rest of my master's soul I will promise not to RIP YOU TO SHREDS!"

Battol was terrified. Aran just sighed, "Calm down, Maha."

"NO! I WON'T! HE STOLE YOUR SOUL, ARAN, DON'T YOU EVEN CA-"

"MAHA!"

The spirit immediately silenced himself. And everyone around made a mental note that Aran was terrifying and formidably respectable when he was angry. Aran calmed down instantly, "Calm down."

Aran turned to Battol, "End this foolishness now Battol. I don't want bloodshed tonight. I am willing to be lenient if you surrender the other half of my soul, now."

Battol was terrified but at the same time relieved. He struck the polearm into the ground, "Here. Take it back."

Battol charged at Aran but this time bounced off him as he flew over the crowd and into the water due to the exertion of power he had when he gave Aran back his soul. Battol, however, sank like a rock and down the nearby waterfall. Al saw this and immediately jumped in after him, despite not being able to swim, "Battol!"

"Al!"

Al managed to swim down to Battol and grab onto him but the current of the waterfall made him unable to swim back up. Aran couldn't do anything, the sudden taking away and return of his soul had weakened him for a bit and he was barely able to remain standing. He was actually leaning on Maha for support. The spirit wasn't paying any attention as he to was horrified at what Al had done and the fact that he was not resurfacing. Everyone was just as horrified.

Anji was sat down, clearly depressed, "I wanted to help both Al and Battol."

Gallus grunted and Anji immediately held his hand up in a panic, "Don't get angry, Gallus! I know I'm saying some weird stuff. Al is a mean coward; Battol is a terrible traitor. But... Because of my trifling pride they... Don't get angry, Gallus."

"I'm not angry," Gallus said and everyone looked at him in shock. "I've had those kinds of feelings before. But the Humans don't understand."

"Ahem," Aran grumbled angrily. Gallus began to sweat as he forgot he was there. "Al is merciful, kind, and far more caring then you will every be. You should all be ashamed of yourselves for being so heartless towards him!"

Aran then heard Nina whisper, "Al..."

Aran blinked and looked up at her. She was crying and legitimately. He was certainly surprised about all else. "After all we did to return Aran to normal, you do this? You've done a such a stupid thing this time... Don't... Don't you..."

She surprised him even more when she shouted out, "DON'T YOU DO STUPID THINGS!"

She immediately summoned her energy disc, jumped on, and flew down the waterfall. This surprised everyone, especially Puudou. She flew down and shouted out his name. She finally found where they were and summoned her magic, "EXPLOSION!"

The water exploded on the spot and Al and Battol flew out onto her disc. She flew them both back up. They were both unconscious. They were all happy.

"Nina!" shouted Puudou. He was joyfully surprised by Nina's actions.

"Battol!" even Anji was happy to seem him okay.

"Al!" Gallus said happily. Despite himself, he had grown fond of the kid.

Aran sighed in relief. He hadn't failed, nor had he broken his promise. He knelt down onto his knee as he felt himself weaken more, "_Uh, I got to remember that tearing your soul in half is a very poor choice of action. I haven't felt this weak since I came out of the ice the day Lilin found me..._"

Nina smirked as she shouted 'Welcome back!'. She hit both of their stomachs causing water to squirt out in a jet-like fashion and drench Anji and Puudou. They coughed as they both woke up.

* * *

The next day, Nina and Puudou are in the forest. Nina is forcing another bee into the letter. Puudou sighed, "You really are twisted."

"You get to see his face like that again," she snickered as she closed the envelope up and hid it. And just in time to because as soon as she hid it Al came out of the brush and held both of her hands, "Thank you so much for yesterday!"

Nina blinked, looking down at her hands then back at all. "You saved mine and Battol's life yesterday. As I would expect from a member of the esteemed Magician clan!"

Nina was partially angry and partially embrassed. Oh, she would get back at him now. She pushed him off and retrieved the letter, "Hmph, your welcome. Now read this."

Al looked at the envelope strangely then thanked them. Nina and Puudou floated off into the trees. They were snickering to each other when they heard a voice say, "What are you two up to now?"

They turned to see Aran standing there with a suspicious look on his face. Nina shrugged, "Well, huh..."

"YEEEEEAAAHHHH!" Al screamed out, which caught Aran's attention. Nina and Puudou held back their laugh until Al charged out to where they were. Another red dot was on his nose as he had been stung by a bee again. He was clearly angry. Nina and Puudou burst out laugh until they heard an 'Ahem' behind them. They instantly remembered Aran was there and noticed he wasn't happy either. He picked them both up then smirked at Al, "Hey, Al. I think I saw an ant colony a few yards back. Shall I?"

Nina and Puudou blinked and looked at each other and then at Al. Certainly someone like wouldn't dare let Aran...

"Go ahead," Al said with a mischievous smirk. Nina and Puudou gasped horrified, "What? No! YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"

"You know what they say, Nina," Aran laughed. "Payback's a pain in the ass. Haha!" **(A/N - Oh, come now, I wasn't going to say b****!)**

Nina and Puudou screamed the entire way as Al triumphantly walked off behind Aran deeper into the forest.

* * *

**Thank you all who have reviewed. And I am going to start an Omake after every chapter. This one will be an Al/Nina side story. It's going to be at least 3 parts and is going to start a couple of days after the incident in this chapter. It's not going to be part of the actual story, however. Thank you again for your patience and I hope you enjoy!**

**Please Review!**

**~Teddypro**

* * *

**Omake**

**An Al/Nina Story: Part I - The Storm**

It was a cloudy day on Maple Island. Al was off going laps around the entire place. Aran was waiting for him back at his house. He was keeping track of the amount of time Al took to complete these trips. Al had to follow a specific course to Serion Perion, Seron Henesys, Seron Kerning City, then Seron Ellinia in that order and Aran warned him that he if he thought Al didn't go in that order he would go to the village leaders themselves and ask the about time Al came by. Needless to say Al needed no more convincing then that.

It was deep into the afternoon, almost towards the evening, and Aran had made him start his day of cardio training after breakfast. Al was on his way back home that day. He was very tired as instead of dragging around the weights he usually uses Al strapped weights to his ankles, wrists, and neck. Needless to say this new way of pulling around weights was a lot more difficult than Al original thought. Scratch him being tired; he was exhausted.

He was about halfway to the Human village when he heard a familiar voice, "Al!"

He slowed to a jog as he looked to see Nina floating up to him, "Hey, Nina."

"Training again I see."

"Yeah," Al said as he sped up a bit. "Aran had me on this one. Said that cardio is important in a long fight. He wanted to see where I was in that area."

"I see."

A boom of thunder struck near them and it began to rain, hard. Al and Nina blinked. Puudou commented by saying, "Looks like a storm and a bad one. We should be heading back to Seron Ellinia."

"Yeah, see ya," Al said as he continued on but then he heard Nina and Puudou scream at the same time another boom of thunder struck right behind him. Al stopped and turned around in time to see Nina and Puudou flying through the air and into a tree after lightning had struck right next to them.

"Nina!" Al shouted as he ran up to them. "Puudou."

They were both unconscious. Al worried but determined to save them picked up Puudou and wrapped Nina's arms around his neck as he ran off towards his home. Aran and his mom could help them. They had to. The weights and the weight of his passangers, however, took their toll on him. Especially when the rain poured down so bad that he could barely see.

* * *

"That's one bad storm," Aran said as he looked out the window.

"I'm worried about Al," Sora told him as she walked beside him.

"Me to but I trust he knows what to do in this sort of situation," Aran said as he walked away and sat down in one of the chairs. "Besides, he left this morning. He should've been almost back here when the rain started. He should be here soon."

Sora looked at him, "I hope you're-"

BANG! BANG! BANG!

A pounding came from the door, someone was begging to be let in.

"Al?" Sora opened up and at first saw only her son. "Al! Thank goodness you back! We were so worried-"

"Mom! I need help!"

It was then she saw Nina's and Puudou's unconscious forms and she gasped, "Oh my! Bring them in here!"

Aran looked up and saw Al holding Nina and Puudou and jumped up instantly, "What happened?!"

"I was on my way back," Al explained. "When Nina and Puudou floated up to me. It was before the storm and as soon as it hit they began to fly back to Seron Ellinia. But lightning struck near them and Nina hit a tree."

"God..." Aran said rushed up to them. He looked at Nina then at Puudou and sighed. "Puudou's fine. He's just unconscious and I'll bet dazed when he does wake up. Nina, however, is hurt. I can probably guess a couple of broken ribs from hitting that tree."

"Will she be okay?" Al asked worriedly.

"Yeah, eventually," Al sighed in relief and Aran looked at Sora. "Do we have an extra room for her?"

Sora shook her head no and Aran sighed. "Looks like Nina's going to have to take your room, Al."

Al nodded, "That's fine."

"Okay. Sora, could you take Nina to Al's room?"

Sora nodded, "Yes, and I have a spare nightgown from when I was a little girl. We need to get her out of those damp close."

"Right, and grab some for Al while your at it. I'll grab a towel for him and Puudou."

They all did what they needed to do. Sora carefully carried Nina upstairs while Aran stood up to grab some towels from the cabinet. Al took Puudou over to the fire to warm up. Al wrapped himself in a towel when Aran brought it while Aran wrapped Puudou up in another one. Aran chuckled to himself, "Even with weights on you managed to carry both Nina and Puudou through a storm you could barely even seen through..."

Al looked up at him, "Yeah..."

Aran smiled and patted Al on the shoulder, "That was a very heroic thing you did Al. You're strong in both mind and will. I am proud to call you my student."

Al smiled widely, "Thank you, Aran."

Aran smiled again, nodded, and walked away. He sighed. All they could do now was wait...

**TBC**

* * *

**Thanks again! And tell me what you think!**

**~Teddypro**


	7. Rewrite Notice

**Yes, I have decided to rewrite this fanfiction namely due to the added information since I first posted this story. Also I will be changing Aran into a female due to the female Aran being more popular in the actual game (appearing as such in both Phantom's and Luminous's story lines).**

**Also, don't be expecting this fanfiction to be rewritten until the summer when I actually have time to do so. I'm incredibly busy right now.**

**Again, I am doing this so that there is no plot holes later in the story.**

**Thank you all for your support and patience and expect the first chapter of the rewritten version to be out soon. Don't worry this one will stay up for nostalgia factor as well.**

**Thanks again,**

**Teddypro**

**P.S. - Anybody willing to try there own version of this story is more than welcome. You have my permission. Just inform me when you do so I can have a look see!**


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